The Mini, or Open 6.5, is the smallest of the Open Class, ocean-racing sailboats. They look and perform like miniature Open 60 monohulls which is not surprising as much of the technology and materials deployed on the big Open 60s – twin rudders, canting keels, water ballast, carbon fiber – was first developed and prototyped on Minis. Likewise, many of the world’s top offshore racing skippers – Ellen MacArthur, Michel Desjoyeaux, Yves Parlier, Isabelle Autissier, Bernard Stamm, Jean Luc Van Den Heede, Bruno & Loick Peyron – began their sailing careers in Minis. Minis are to Open 60s what go karts are to Formula One racing. In baseball parlance, they are the farm leagues of Major League Baseball.

Minis conform to a box rule. The Mini has an LOA of 21 feet (6.5 meters); a Beam of 9.8 feet (3.0 meters); a Mast (from deck) that is 36.1 feet (11.0 meters); and a Draught is 7 feet (2.0 meters). They can carry up 1,000 square feet (100 sq. meters) of sail area. There are two types of Minis – Production (“Serie” in French) and Prototype boats. While similar in dimensions and appearance, the two classes of Minis have major differences.

To qualify as a Production boat under Classe Mini rules (Classe Mini is the organizing body that sanctions all Mini races), at least ten boats have to be built in the same boatyard. The hull, deck and mast are identical for all the boats. Production boats cannot use carbon fiber in the hull, deck or mast. They have a fixed keel and no dagger boards. Only the deck layout and hardware can be changeable. There are four Production designs currently approved by Classe Mini. They are the Pogo 2 (2003), the Naus (2003), the Super Calin (2001) and the orginal Pogo (1995). Several new Production designs are sailing and should receive Classe Mini approval this year or next year. These are the Zero (Marc Lombard design), Ginto (Sebastien Magnen design) and the Dingo (Pierre Rolland design).

Prototype boats have far fewer restrictions than production boats. Carbon fiber and Nomex-cored hulls, canting and sliding keels, carbon fiber wing masts are some of the materials and designs deployed on Proto boats. They are professionally built in a boatyards with an autoclave and homebuilt in the backyard. They are designed by some of the most well known designers in the world (Sebastien Magnen, Pierre Rolland, Marc Lombard, Simon Rogers, Groupe Finot, Owen & Clarke) or designed by their homebuilders.