The Mirage 29 is a Canadian

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

, that was designed by

Philippe Harlé Philippe is a masculine sometimes feminin given name, cognate to Philip. It may refer to: * Philippe of Belgium (born 1960), King of the Belgians (2013–present) * Philippe (footballer) (born 2000), Brazilian footballer * Prince Philippe, Count o ...

and first built in 1986. The Mirage 29 design is often confused with an unrelated design, the British Thames Marine Mirage 29 first built in 1983.

Production

The boat was built by

Mirage Yachts Mirage Yachts Limited was a Canadian boat builder initially based in Pointe Claire, Quebec, a suburb of Montreal and founded by Dick and Irene Steffen. The company specialized in the manufacture of sailboats. The company was founded in Februa ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, which completed 290 examples, starting in 1986, but it is now out of production.

Design

The owners of Mirage Yachts, Dick and Irene Steffen, were looking for a newer design to replace the Robert Perry-designed Mirage 27 in the product line. In 1985 the Steffens asked a number of different designers to provide preliminary designs for a boat in the same class. The winner was Philippe Harlé, who was selected to complete his design. It was introduced in the spring of 1986 as the Mirage 29 and became a quick success, with 50 boats sold before the first one had been delivered and 290 built in total. As a result of this success, Harlé went onto design the Mirage 275 in 1986 and Mirage 39 in 1989. The Mirage 29 is a recreational

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

, built predominantly of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

, with wood trim. It has a

masthead sloop A masthead rig on a sailing vessel consists of a forestay and backstay both attached at the top of the mast. The Bermuda rig can be split into two groups: the masthead rig and the fractional rig. The masthead rig has larger and more headsails, ...

rig, an internally-mounted spade-type

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally air or water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to counter adve ...

and a fixed fin

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

. It displaces and carries of ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel. The boat is fitted with a

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-ca ...

of . The fuel tank holds and the fresh water tank also has a capacity of . The boat has a

hull speed Hull speed or displacement speed is the speed at which the wavelength of a vessel's bow wave is equal to the waterline length of the vessel. As boat speed increases from rest, the wavelength of the bow wave increases, and usually its crest-to-t ...

of .

Operational history

In a review Michael McGoldrick wrote, "This boat is an excellent example of the newer boats which were built in the mid to late 1980s (just before most of the sailboat manufacturers in Canada closed their doors). The Mirage 29 has a long waterline, a bow with little overhang, a large but relatively shallow cockpit, an aft head, and aft cabin with a double berth which extends under the cockpit. These are all features found on many French boats which became so popular in the latter half of the 1980s...One of the main attractions of these boats is an enclosed aft cabin... People over 6 feet tall may find most of the berths on Mirage 29 a little short."

References

External links

{{Mirage Yachts Keelboats 1980s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Sailboat type designs by Philippe Harlé Sailboat types built by Mirage Yachts

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links