Mini Transat 6.50

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mini Transat 6.50 also known as Transat 650 is a solo transatlantic yacht race. The length of the yachts are limited to 6.50 metres.

An Englishman Bob Salmon, from Plymouth, originally came up with the idea of the mini transatlantic race in the late 70's. It was conceived to promote relatively affordable solo offshore sailing in response to the trend for bigger and consequently more expensive boats for the OSTARs and other trans-ocean races.

The first mini transat started from Penzance Sailing Club, Penzance, UK in 1977 and races have subsequently been staged bi-annually on odd number years. Over the years the course varying slightly, with the first four races starting from Penzance before transferring to Brest, France in 1985. Since then the start of Leg 1 has usually been somewhere in Brittany or La Rochelle with a stop-over in the Canary Islands. Leg 2 then sees the fleet race to the West Indies or Brazil.

The race now runs with two main divisions, prototype and production. Prototype is the most prestigious class and has fewer rule limitations. The production division is often a first step into the class and uses approved production designs, thus keeping the costs of competing lower. The prototype boats are generally faster and more technical than the production class boats, with movable keels, carbon rigs and other more advanced features allowed.

Over recent years the class has evolved into a major breeding ground for professional ocean racers, with the Solitaire du Figaro as the other main nursery. Many of the current Open 60 sailors came through the mini class. In addition the 6.5 metre class's prototype division has very few design restrictions such as maximum length, beam, draft and mast height. The design openness, the small size of the boat and the comparatively small budgets have encouraged many significant design innovations to be first tested in the Mini Transat 6.50 class. Many of these innovations have afterwards been picked up by larger classes like the Open 60s.

The Mini Transat class is not just about the single-handed transatlantic race, in the first season of the two year cycle, the events are mainly double-handed races, such as the Mini Fastnet, Mini Barcelona, Select 650 and Open Demi-Cle. The Transat season incorporates a lot more single-handed events, virtually all of which, as with the previous season, start and finish in France and take the sailors around Western Europe. A 1000 mile solo qualifier must also be completed in order to get an entry in the Transat, along with a 1000 miles of Mini racing.

In recent years the class has been dominated by French sailors, although other countries have had occasional success.