The boat that I chose for my Mini campaign is a Nacira 6,50, a Series boat that is considered the fastest from the generation of classic mini boats with a sharp bow. The current Series boats (such as Pogo 3, Maxi or Vector) all have a rounded “scow” bow that makes them much-much faster when reaching. However the new boats also come with a much higher acquisition price. And since my project is self-funded, I took into consideration all the aspects and after a careful analysis, reached the conclusion that a Nacira 6,50 offers the best compromise between cost and performance for me. After all I have not set my target to win the Mini Transat on my first attempt 🙂

There were only 18 Nacira boats produced by the FR NAUTISME shipyard between 2008-2012. I was fortunate to find a very special one, hull number 17, ordered and prepared by Eric Cochet for Mini Transat 2013 (Eric is very famous in the world of offshore racing being an outstanding rigger for Imoca and VOR 65 boats). Thus my boat has a wide range of tweeks that should make it lighter and faster than other boats from the same generation. I still have to discover its full potential though.

Some quick figures:

• Length overall: 6,50 m (21 ft)
• Width: 3 m
• Draught: 1,6 m
• Displacement: 910 kg (out of which the keel weighs 410 kg)

Sails:

• Mainsail: 27 sqm
• Jib: 17 sqm
• Big spinnaker: 80 sqm

A short racing history of my boat with various pictures taken over time can be found here or on the official Classe Mini website.

CIRRUS MINOR

It took me 8 months to finally decide on a name for my Mini 832 – a small boat gliding on a big ocean like a mini cirrus cloud floating high in the atmosphere. A symbol of my daydreaming, but also of what can be achieved when you start acting upon your dreams. And also the name of one of the early songs of a rock band that I’ve grown up with since secondary school and still love now as I did almost 3 decades ago…

“On a trip to cirrus minor, saw a crater in the sun
A thousand miles of moonlight later…”