I am reluctant to fill the Bulletin with information available on the Web, but this particular clip will, I am sure, be of great interest to DCA sailors. I always thought the Mirror was a good boat but now read this! I hope it will encourage all those who have a Mirror (on the front lawn, etc) to fix the boat up and enjoy some good, safe cruising. We would love to see you at any DCA rally.

Comments by author and sailor John Vigor, in the American magazine Small Craft Adviser, with acknowledgements:

How safe and seaworthy are small trailerable sailboats?

"I think the thing that worries me most about trailerables is their lack of ultimate stability—that is, their ability to recover from a 180-degree capsize. It might sound melodramatic to talk of a full capsize, but the fact that it can happen is enough to make me wary…

Personally, I love cruising dinghies. The smaller they are (down to about 11 feet), the heavier the bodyweight of the crew in proportion, and the harder they are to capsize—and the easier they are to right, if you do capsize. I spent a lot of time racing 11-foot International Mirrors in the boisterous waters off the South Africa coast, launching and returning through heavy surf. There were occasions when the swells were so large that you could only see the rest of the fleet when you hit the top of a large wave. I can remember a Mirror losing its rig out there once in conditions like that, but the crew hung on to everything, repaired the broken stay, raised the mast, and sailed back home unaided. That was a great lesson for me about the safety of small boats at sea. I have always felt confident I could sail a Mirror across an ocean if necessary. The Mirror, in fact, is the only boat I've ever felt completely in control of in all weather. If I were shipwrecked in mid-ocean, I'd certainly rather be in a Mirror than in a drifting life raft. One thing I've never figured out, though, is how I'd sleep. But I guess that would solve itself when the time came. Mirrors regularly sail across the English Channel, and 16-foot Wayfarers go even farther abroad (perhaps because they're big enough to sleep in) weathering storms at sea like much bigger boats. But, as we've noted before, the boat itself is only part of seaworthiness. The skill and experience of the crew are equally important. So, if you want to increase your safety at sea, start slow, get to know your boat well, and gain experience in an organized manner. Think all the time about what would happen if she were to capsize right now. Think how you would avoid being caught on a lee shore. Work out ways to get out another anchor when you're dragging. And if you're a dinghy sailor, practice capsizes. Practice heaving to. Practice reefing. Practice sailing to windward under jib only. Practice steering with an oar. All these things can be fun—but more importantly, they build confidence, seamanship, and safety, things you can't buy in a store no matter how rich you are."

John Vigor is a full-time boating author and editor based on Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. John has five books in print, the latest two being "The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat" (International Marine) and "Twenty Small Sailboats to Take You Anywhere" (Paradise Cay). Mr. Vigor is the former managing editor of Sea Magazine and is a former South African national dinghy sailing champion in the International Mirror Class. He has 15,000 miles of deep-sea experience, having both raced and cruised across the Atlantic in boats of 33 feet and under.

I have forgotten who coined the phrase "the smaller the boat the better the fun" – maybe Erskine Childers - but perhaps we should add "the smaller the boat the safer the sailing"?