When a designer as respected within the sailing community as David Thomas describes a dinghy as "One of the most influential boats of the 1970s" then it is clear that the design is something special.
Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, there is no doubt that the Peter Milne designed Mirror14/ Marauder was many years ahead of it's time. Fast and vice free afloat, easy to build, light to move around, this was a modern dinghy that was firmly fixed at the performance end of the market - except that this was not how the boat was branded.
This then is the story of the spectacular rise and fall of a very special boat. The rise was indeed spectacular, at one point the boat was considered the 'fastest growing class in Europe', but in many ways this just made the fall and final demise of the boat all the sadder.
The early days: The Mirror gets a big brother
One of the most famous pictures of the Mirror 14 has to be this excellent study (perhaps by Eileen Ramsey) of the prototype boat out in the Solent. The boat is rigged with a job, the turning blocks are mounted well forward, just inside the shrouds. This boat was to undergo a number of changes as the final layout was determined, sadly not all the work followed good boatbuilding practices, with the result that the hull ended up getting left to rot down on Hambel foreshore - and sad end to what could have been a glorious 'step forward' in dinghy design.
Another great picture of the prototype, being sailed (it is believed) by Mirror ace Jon Partridge.
The wide beam, carried right to the stern, is clearly visible in this shot as are the distinctive spray rails, a suresign feature of a Peter Milne design.
Again though it is the rig that catches the eye: The Holt sails are cut full and though the mast was alloy, the boom was a wooden 'plank'. As well as almost decapitating a number of crews, this could bend away alarmingly in breeze but worse - it was a sign that this was not a 'cutting edge' performance boat. (the bendy boom was not itself an issue as this was the era of 'bendy booms' as with the Proctor 2632 section. But the bend was always in the vertical plane though, not away sideways!!
Going it alone: Life as the Marauder
Free from the constraints of the Mirror Group and without the millstone of the 'red sails' the Marauder flourished as a class but the golden period was to be short. Here is an interestiong shot from an event held at Portishead SC, either a Southerns or a nationals.
Photo courtesy David Whittock
Light airs, not to mention the (in)famous strong tides at Portishead, would not normally be the strong point of the Marauder as the beamy after sctions, if allowed to drag, had too much wetted area. But sailed well, the boat could be a strong performer even in less than favourable conditions.
Photo courtesy David Whittock
Despite being late on in the Marauder story, you could still find the occasional red sail appearing, and not in the sunset either!
Photo courtesy David Whittock
But the key things was to get the weight forward and thus 'unstick' the after part of the spray rail. It could be done (as could the spinnaker be sorted but that is another issue). 832 is a famous Trott boat that will appear in other pictures throught the Marauder Story..
However, the issue came down to one of where did the helm and crew sit. If you followed normal doctrine, then the result was the same as above;
Photo courtesy David Whittock
Because of the layout of the interior, in light airs the crew could not easily move down to leeward, thus allowing the helm to move to windward - but more importantly, bring his weight forward. Even scrunching up under the boom was a poor solution.
Photo courtesy David Whittock
Thats better! The helm has moved up onto the vrew deck area and this has helped lift the transom. The darted stitch and glue construction method had resulted in a very pronounced 'veed' hull forward, but it did not seem to matter to the boat if this was well depressed - there still seemed to be ample buoyancy forward.
Photo courtesy David Whittock
Because of the wide, flat hull, the Marauder was very sensitive to not only fore and aft trim but in being sailed bolt upright. This boat is close but not close enough. To sail fast in a Marauder you must sail upright. An interesting observation from these photos is that the nice looking suit of sails are from Neil Thornton at Number One. A Northern sailmaker, Neil made Championship winning sails for Fireballs, Merlins and many of the National classes. It is an indication of how important the Marauder was around this time that all the big names in rigs had a set of Marauder sails in their offerings.
Breeze of course brought a new set of problem, in particular for the older boats.
Photo courtesy David Whittock
Ignoring the issue of hull colour, this boat is setting a right mix of sails. The genoa is Holt, as it (by the look of things) the main, set on an old IYE mast. No spreaders, external tangs at the hounds and though the wooden plank boom has been replaced with an alloy section, it appears that the kicker is either not strong enough or not being used. With a large, powerful overlapping genoa as used on the Marauder, trying to sail in breeze with a slackish luff was not a recipe for speed.
Photo courtesy David Whittock
That's the way to go upwind in a Marauder. It is 832 again showing how good the boat can be when set up correctly and then sailed well. Proctor D with big forward set spreaders, Rondar strut to help chock the mast, plenty of rig tension (the Trott boats could take it) and then being sailed upright. IN the confused waters found in the Bristol channel, it did not pay to try to sail a beamy, light boat such as the Marauder with too narrow a sheeting base. Best of all was to install a full width traveller, cleat the genoa, the sail the boat upwind as per an FD, with the main cleated and just playing teh traveller abck and forth.
Photo courtesy David Whittock
The decline and final moves to save the boat
A sad end - pulling the plug!