Specifications
Designer |
Paul Handley | |
Builder |
Rondar Raceboats |
|
Construction |
Epoxy foam sandwich, vacuum bagged |
|
Length |
5.8m |
19' |
Beam |
1.82m |
6' |
Sailing weight |
280kg (approx 50% keel ballast) |
616lb |
Sail area main / jib |
19.7sq m |
210sq ft |
Sail area spinnaker |
26sq m |
310sq ft |
RYA PN |
903 |
|
Design concept of the K6 by Paul Young of Rondar
The K6 was conceived as a keelboat for sailors coming from a high performance dinghy background typically 505s, I-14’s and other asymmetric classes. If we describe the typical sailor then it helps to explain the boat. A typical profile of a K6 sailor is competitive, 30ish to 50ish, with work and family responsibilities, who is typically short of personal leisure time, and therefore unable to travel and compete as he did in his younger days.
He is used to, and wants a boat with the speed and responsiveness of a good dinghy, but the majority of high performance dinghies place a disproportionate emphasis on having skilled crew for trapeze and spinnaker work. He is aware that as he cannot sail regularly and go to the top events, it is almost impossible to keep a good crew, as their services are in high demand, and without a good crew, the satisfaction that comes from sailing to one’s ability is not there.
He does not have evenings and weekends to tinker with the boat, so it has to be a modern simple one-design that can be set up to a standard state of tune, and then used. He wants to be able to rig and de-rig easily and usually single-handedly, And he does not want to spend a fortune storing and mooring the boat, or needing cranes to launch and large vehicles to tow. It needs to be capable of going home behind the family car, and being stored in the garage for the winter, and being sailed from a variety of sailing venues such as ramps and beaches. It has to also look good and be desirable in its own right, as he is a competitive person and does not want to take a step down into a “sensible” dull bathtub.
Above all, he wants to be able to go sailing and to be competitive with whatever crews are available at the time and without huge logistical effort. Typically he will sail with his wife or kids in the evening series at the local club in the summer, or zip around on a free afternoon, just for fun. A few times a year he will do some more serious racing in a local regatta or travel to a multi-class event. After the regatta he wants to pack the boat up in a few minutes and drive home, without needing to divert to the yacht club because the boat is too big to have it at home for a few days.
The requirement was therefore to provide an elegant, yet modern one-design boat, capable of a good turn of speed, and genuinely exciting to race, yet capable of taking a variety of crew weights and skill levels without denting the overall performance. It had to relatively convenient to handle when ashore and afloat, and be simple to rig, launch and recover. It had to be of good quality, long lasting and relatively inexpensive to run. It had to have the thrills with out the spills, the adrenaline rush when sailing with your buddy in 20 knots, yet perfectly safe to take your wife or kids out in 12 knots and fly the kite. The K6 is that boat.
With over 95 boats built and fleets racing at Cowes, Aldeburgh, Yarmouth, Hayling, Carsington, and most recently Itchenor Sailing club and American YC USA, the K6 is steadily growing as its charms manifest themselves. Voted “Sailboat of the Year in 2002” by an independent panel of judges and beating the Swan 45 into second place, this boat combines the positive virtues of dinghies and small keelboats into one sleek but manageable package.
