Mini 6.50 design

Hi, i am considering buildind a mini 6.50 for the trasatlantic race, i have 2 designs one from Dudley dix th MK3 http://www.dixdesign.com/didiminiMk3.htm and one from Van Gorkom http://www.vgyd.com/Mini.html but i am not sure wich is a better performer by design not by displacement o sail area i just want to know wich have a better hull design please help me.

 

I would go with Dudley Dix's design, he's been working on his Mini Transat design for quite a while now, has them going well, and this latest version incorporates all of that experience.

A factor that you might consider, is that the Didi Mini is going to cost a great deal less money to build than a full carbon boat, and the performance difference is not going to be very noticeable for a novice skipper.
Note that the skippers strength, fitness and experience counts for a lot in this event, and you would do well to begin a high level fitness program before you even think of building the boat. The more successful of the two skippers I have designed Minis for ran ultramarathons for fun, 100 mile running races, and he was exhausted at the end of the boat race.

John Welsford

 

You may want to check Francois Lucas work too:

http://www.fr-lucas.com/cadreus.asp

 

Mini Transat

Mini 6.50 design. Updated with chines.

 

I personally know Geoff Van Gorkom extremely well, and he is a stickler for performance, design, and construction detail. You won't go wrong with that design.

Eric

 

he thanks for the replyes i liked a lot the one of lucas the mini 1999 but im still worried with the construction prosses since i want to build it my self pobably for this it will be better to build the dix design thanks for the help please keep posting

 

The one I wanted you to look at is the Mini CP (CP stand for ContrePlaqué... Plywood in french)

It is probably the simpler mini to build, being hard chine plywood

The new dix design look nice too, a hard choice to make!

 

You may also look for Jean-Pierre Magnan's Super-Calin. I cruise one on the St-Lawrence river. Hard chine plywood, quite simple to build ( we did ). The design may seam outdated but it's a good performer at low cost.

http://www.super-calin.com Sadly it looks down

 

Im currently working with a small but great designer who is helping me design and create a NZ version of the mini based on the current minis and we are designing it for NZ waters and souther ocean sailing. Its a reat project and we hope to get the boat in the water for a test sail by xmas. For the waters we plan to sail (race) in the boat has a fixed keel, and fully self righting. We have created a one design race boat (based on the french minis) to be in the water and sailing for under $100k.

 

Hey good luck with that, do keep us posted. There needs to be more Kiwis in this event, Chris Sayer and Navman showed us what can be done , lets see some more.

John Welsford

 

HI John

I think you may missunderstand me (us) we are building a boat for the southern ocean and very heavy weather sailing, we are not planing on entering the mini races, we are only using some of there ideas for our designs, (like the size and basic layout.) We think that the boat we build would not be fast enough for the mini race, ( as there boats would be too light and flimsy for the race we are creating.)

But for sure this will be a great event and will keep you posted.

W

 

I probably did not put it right. I encourage anything connected with the Mini Transat race and class, they are amazing boats and the skippers are a great bunch of people. Its an event that Kiwis should have a go at, and racing boats of similar type here in our waters would lead to more of "us" having a try.

Navman was a fairly heavy boat for a Mini, but was particularly competive in light weather. She was tried out in the Southern Ocean as well as competing in the Singlehanded Trans Tasman and did a run up to New Caledonia and back. She did two Two handed Around North Island races, Chris and I ran her in the Coastal Classic, and raced her in some of the winter two handed series in Auckland, she was amazingly competitive against the bigger boats and even had some of the multihulls looking worried.
There are lots of events that suit these boats, that plus the one you are proposing would give enough to be an incentive for younger home builders to give serious short handed ocean racing a try.

John Welsford

 

I will send you some photos once we get into the buidling of the boat.
W

 

Great, I'm looking forward to seeing them.
If there is anything that I can help with please feel free to ask.
John Welsford

 

Sorry for digging up this old thread!
How to locate plans for the Super Calin? I cannot find it anywhere...
Thank you