Design and Construction
The hull is solid fiberglass, built by the Canadian yard Mirage Yachts Ltd. anchor, and the boat draws between roughly 4.82 and 5.12 feet depending on load, a shallow-enough draft to tuck into modest marinas. With a length-to-beam ratio of 3.05 and a beam close to 10.5 feet, the Perry layout is beamier than 62 percent of comparable designs, which translates directly into a roomier cabin than most boats her length would suggest. The 35 percent ballast ratio—lead on a long keel—places her ahead of only 21 percent of similar sailboats on that measure, yet the 8,500-pound displacement and 2,800-pound ballast give a moderate-racer displacement-length ratio of 204. She is lighter than 73 percent of her peers in that categorization, which helps explain the lively performance numbers below.
Rig and Handling
The Mirage 32 is a masthead sloop carrying 433 square feet of mainsail and jib area, and the rig itself is extraordinary in context: she carries more rig than 98 percent of all similar sailboats, which marks her as significantly overrigged according to a review on yachtdatabase.com anchor. That overdrive shows in the sail-area-to-displacement figures—17.3 with the standard reference sail and 20.7 with a 135 percent genoa—and those numbers put her ahead of 62 percent of similar designs in light-air speed. The theoretical hull speed is 6.8 knots. Her capsize screening value of 2.10 means she would not be accepted for ocean races, a clear signal that Perry tuned her for coastal and club racing rather than offshore passage work. The motion comfort ratio of 19.3 leaves her more comfortable than just 24 percent of similar designs, so the light, overrigged character comes with a firmer ride.
Accommodations
The beamy proportions give the Mirage 32 an interior more spacious than 62 percent of all other designs based on the length-to-beam ratio. Combined with the 23.75-foot waterline and 6.53-knot hull-speed envelope from her dimensions, the boat reads as a pocket cruiser that punches above her length for livability. The 20-gallon fuel and water tanks speak to modest coastal cruising range rather than extended gunkholing.
The Verdict
The Mirage 32 is a distinctly Canadian sloop designed by Robert H. Perry: light, beamy, and dramatically overrigged for her size, which makes her quick in light air and roomy below but firm-riding and unsuited to ocean racing by capsize-screening standards. She is a coastal cruiser-racer with a shallow draft and an accommodating layout.
Pros
- Beamy hull yields cabin space ahead of 62 percent of comparable designs
- Overrigged masthead sloop is faster in light wind than 62 percent of similar boats
- Shallow load-dependent draft eases marina access
- Light displacement (moderate-racer DL ratio) keeps her lively
Cons
- Capsize screening value excludes her from ocean racing
- Motion comfort ratio trails 76 percent of similar designs
- Ballast ratio lower than 79 percent of comparable sailboats
