The scene is booming. The Mini 6.50 class is more popular than ever before. Most of its skippers have one goal: to take part in the Mini-Transat, a single-handed regatta across the Atlantic that takes place every two years. The race runs from Douarnenez in France with a pit stop in Lanzarote to Pointe-à-Pitre on Guadeloupe in the Caribbean.
84 of the maximum 6.50 metre long and 3.00 metre wide sea gnomes took part in the 2013 Mini-Transat, of which 31 were prototypes and 53 were production boats. The differences: The protos may be built entirely from carbon fibre and are also usually fitted with canting keels. The regulations for the production boats, on the other hand, impose more restrictions. Among other things: Fixed keel, limited mast height, ban on carbon fibre, plus a prescribed minimum height below deck
The Pogo Structures shipyard in France has been supplying the Mini class with reliable and successful production boats for many years. After the Pogo 1 (since 1994) by designer Pierre Rolland and the Pogo 2 (2003/Groupe Finot), the shipyard is now presenting the Pogo 3, the third Mini generation. The plans come from designer Guillaume Verdier, who has worked on many current Imoca Open 60 and Class 40 projects in collaboration with VPLP (Van Peteghem/Lauriot Prévost), among others.
His design for Pogo includes an extremely voluminous foredeck section. Although the bow is not quite as radical as the "scow bow" of the legendary Magnum Mini by David Raison (winner of the Proto classification at the Mini-Transat 2011), it is significantly more voluminous than most current Protos. The question of what the bow of a mini should look like is the subject of intense and controversial debate in the mini sailing scene. The hull of the Pogo 3 is built as a GRP construction with E-Glass in a vacuum infusion process with vinyl ester resins, the deck consists of a sandwich with a foam core. The mast is made of aluminium.
The first Pogo 3 is due to enter the water in May 2014 and will then be thoroughly tested by the shipyard. The first production boats will be delivered to buyers in July 2014. Pogo sales manager Charly Fernbach is already looking forward to receiving numerous orders. The Pogo 3 will then show its potential at the latest at the next Mini-Transat (launch in autumn 2015). The price at market launch will be 53,335 euros, including 19% VAT, but without the sails.
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Pogo 3 study
