PRACTICAL
RUPERT HOLMES ON THE MANUARD FOILING MINI 6.50
Entry in the Mini Transat is highly competitive: there are currently 152 boats chasing 84 places
In early sea trials Boule’s fully foiling #1067 Nicomatic clocked 23 knots of speed in only 8 knots of true wind
Xucia is Mini 6.50 #1081, a radical Sam Manuard-designed foiling iteration of the popular single-handed class. Rupert Holmes looks at the accelerating pace of change in the Mini 6.50s
T he past few years have seen an explosion of activity in the Mini 6.50 class, with qualifying races for the iconic Mini Transat race oversubscribed by up to 100% and two-year waiting lists for new Seriesbuilt boats.
Yet the front of the fleet is no longer an economic place to go racing. Typical fully equipped prices for new Series builds are around €150,000, while the bill for new one-off Protos is well over double that figure, reflecting the costs of full carbon one-off boats that incorporate build knowledge gained from America’s Cup campaigns, plus in some cases the enormous cost of foils.
INNOVATION HOTBED
Historically the class has been a hotbed of innovation. It’s here that twin rudder designs and canting keels were first refined and proven to be reliable, even if some of the latter initially had problems when scaled up to much larger yachts. However, for the past few years almost all new development has been in the lower-powered Series fleet, where scow bows have been the norm for several years.
In contrast to the IMOCA 60 fleet, foiling designs have so far been slow to take off, but that’s changing rapidly. This year sees nine new Proto boats set to be launched, many of which push the boundaries of yacht design.
Unlike foiling IMOCA 60s, Minis are allowed T-foils on their rudders, which opens up the prospect for a full flying boat. This was the approach taken by the early foiling Minis, including Seair’s David Raison-designed #747 in 2017 – the first-ever flying offshore monohull – and the Verdier-designed Pogo Foiler that launched in 2019.
When I visited Lorient-based Seair back in 2018 development engineer Hugo Feydit told me they were seeing speed advantages of up to 30% compared to the Archimedes Protos of the time. This boat was originally intended as a proof of concept, so it was judged imprudent to build both foils at the outset, in case testing showed a different foil shape was needed and as a result it could only foil on starboard tack. Funding was not forthcoming to build the other foil, which means the boat never raced so direct comparisons with the fleet could not be made.
However, the Pogo Foiler is a different matter. Although Covid forced a break in his early racing schedule, Tang
