What are Transat 650’s or Mini’s as they are commonly known? The mini class developed from a simple but fascinating idea from Bob Salmon: to race from Europe to the Caribbean in a boat less then 6.5m long. The boats in the first race were existing production boats but soon specially designed boats appeared on the starting line. Today the Transat 650 class is a genuine ocean racing class like the Imoca 60’s only smaller. In fact the Mini class has always been the testing ground for new ideas that later on became the norm in the bigger open classes. Innovations like waterballast, cantingkeels, wingmasts, etc. are longtime features of the minis. The class is split into two types now, the custom build and high-tech Protos and the simpler but fiercely competitive production racer/cruisers: the Seriesmini. Serie minis like the 2win650 are not only suited for short-handed ocean racing but also make fast but save cruising entirely feasible. Daysailing, weekending, even camp style holiday cruising can be part of the regular sailing program of a series mini. Sporty and fast the 2win650 series mini has all the sailing characteristics of a short-handed racer: despite enormous power available, easy to control and save under all circumstances. Characteristics all cruising sailors like to see in their cruising boats!