The Open 650 is the 3rd "Open Day Sailor" designed by the FINOT/CONQ ARCHITECTS. From a distance, the boat looks very much like the well know One Design Open 570 and Open 750. However, the Open 650 is unique - it is the only 21 foot day sailor entirely made of prepreg carbon fiber and cured in an autoclave. Until now this technique of building boats has been reserved for much larger more expensive race boats. The process originated from the aerospace industry (Toulouse, South West of France). This process, called Autostruct allows the hull, stringers and reinforcements to all be manufactured in one shot. All the components are put in a closed mold and cured in an autoclave making the boat exceptionally resistant to impacts and much stiffer than any similar boats.

The goal of the Open 650 was to build stronger and lighter composite structures in order to obtain a level of performance never achieved before on sailboats. Some of these concepts have been tested on the open 50 and 60's as well as the Giro 34. But they usually come at a rather high cost.

With a group of partners from Toulouse (South West of France), The FINOT/CONQ ARCHITECTS developed a new technology to produce a radically lighter boat. A lot of the development and the construction methodology are derived from the aircraft industry and focuses on the use of carbon fiber cured in autoclave. The hull is built with a process called "Autostruct" which allows the construction of the shell, stringers and reinforcement all in one piece. Every effort is made to ensure flawless construction that can be translated into production quality. A boat sized half way between a dingy and a cruising sailboat proved to be the right choice in order validate this concept.

The result of this process was a boat that is lighter, stronger and safer than any other production boat but still affordable to regular sailors. The process was also an effort to protect the environment as the manufacturing process pollutes much less than regular fiberglass boats.

The entire Open 6.50 is made out of carbon fiber.

• The hull is monolytic carbon fiber. As explained in a previous paragraph, hull, stringers, inside reinforcements are all made of prepreg carbon fiber and cured in autoclave.
• The deck is sandwich carbon fiber / honeycomb (Nomex) and is cured in an autoclave.
• The foil for the keel is solid carbon fiber and is cured in an autoclave.
• The rudders are carbon fiber with Nomex core. The twin rudders are connected using carbon connection bars and the tiller extensions are also made of carbon fiber, of course.
• The rotating wing mast is 35 foot tall, watertight and also made from carbon fiber.
• All the fitting attachments on the mast and boom are also molded carbon custom pieces to receive headstay, shrouds and sails adjustments control lines.

The Open 650 was designed to be capable of reaching planing conditions downwind in as little as 10 knots of wind. The entire boat is about 1,200 lbs. The keel is about 485 lbs - almost 40% of the total displacement. The boat drafts 6 foot and 6 inches which results in a very low center of gravity. The shape of the hull is designed to provide a lot of stability and allows the boat to carry a large sail area.

You will be impressed. Some are even scared. A first look at the main sail of the Open 650 makes the best sailors think twice about stepping on the boat. The Open 650 carries 430 square foot of sail area upwind. Keep in mind that the boat only weights 1,200 lbs. It is no wonder why FINOT claims that the boat is approaching the ultimate dream: planing upwind!

Both the main sail and the jib have a square top in order to maximize power in light air and to help de-powering in heavy air. The main sail can be either kevlar or full carbon and has 6 full battens. It is attached to the mast with Harken sliders. The luff of the sail is about 33 feet, the foot of the sail is about 13 feet, and the square top approaches 6 feet. The jib is mounted on a Harken furler which makes maneuvers very simple when leaving and returning from/to the dock. The Open 650 carries a fractional asymmetrical spinnaker. The designers and owners have raced and tested the Open 6.50 with various spinnaker sizes ranging from 450 square feet all the way up to 560 square feet. Open Sailing decided to supply the U.S. Open 650 with a 520 square foot spinnaker - it has enough shoulder to sail "deep" downwind in light air and plenty of horsepower to get on a plane when reaching or in the breeze. With the 520 square foot spinnaker the boat carries about 950 square foot of sail area downwind.

The Open 650, in the 20 foot range of sportboats has one of the highest SA/D ratio, and the highest Sail Area, making the boat very fast in light air.

The Open 6.50 is 8 feet and 3 inches wide and the cockpit is just over 13 feet long. In other words, when you step on the Open 650, it feels like you are stepping on a much larger boat. The boat can take 5 crew, for a day sail or racing. Hiking (which is optional) is "legs in" and the bunks of the boat are ergonomic making it comfortable and safe while sailing. The large cockpit allows the crew to move fore and aft to balance the boat in different sailing conditions. In between races, there is plenty of room for the crew to rest and stretch their legs. Under the cabin roof there is some storage which is accessible through a watertight hatch, ensuring any gear stowed inside is kept dry while out sailing.

Please see HARKEN for details!

All of the hardware on the boat is provided by the well known company Harken. The quality has proven to be outstanding ensuring that equipment failure is the last thing on your mind while sailing the Open 6.50.

All the lines on the boat are of good quality and are pleasant to handle with or without gloves. All the control lines are different colors in order to minimize confusion. The main sheet, the jib sheets and the spinnaker sheets are all continuous which greatly reduces the number of lines resulting in a clean and simple cockpit.

The Open 650 has positive flotation and it is impossible to sink the boat. Even if the boat is filled with water, and 5 crew aboard, the boat is guaranteed not to sink. The carbon mast is water tight and no capsizes have been reported since the hull # 1 was built in 2005. The Open 650 has been certified "Design Category C with 5 crew, unsinkable" by the Bureau Veritas in France, certificate Nr. 6632.0860.A09.

Whether the Open 650 is launched from a ramp or from a yacht club hoist very little additional equipment is required and the process is very simple and quick. You'll be ready to cast off after only 30-45 minutes (assuming the boat is partially rigged on it's trailer).

Launching from a ramp only requires one additional accessory - the keel hoist. The keel hoist simply lifts the keel while the boat is on the water allowing it float on and off the trailer. Also, since the trailering lights are separate from the trailer they won't be immersed in the water and will be more reliable over time.

Launching using a hoist also only requires one additional accessory - the lifting straps. These straps lift the boat from four different points - the chain plates, the keel and the mast. This ensures that the boat remains level both side to side and bow to stern as it is lowered into the water. Since a strap is attached to the keel the hoist is also used to lower the keel effortlessly into place.

It doesn't take a large powerful car or SUV to trailer an Open 650. Since the total weight of the trailer with the boat, the sails and some gear is only about 1500 lbs even a VW Beetle is up to the task.

Taking the Open 650 on the road is an adventure not a chore. Preparing the boat for the road or even rigging the boat after traveling can be done by two persons only. The biggest challenge is putting up or taking down the mast. At about 65 lbs the mast is not heavy but the fact that it is long makes it a little awkward to move around. However, it is still relatively straight forward to safely put up the mast or take it down. Of course having more people makes everything even easier. With two experience people it's possible to go from sailing on the bay to driving on the freeway in less than 2 hours.

The Open 650 is designed to be simple to sail ensuring the action happens on the race course rather than on the boat. The Open 650 can be sailed with only two, three and up to five crew aboard. In terms of being competitive the Open 650 needs at least three people on the boat to handle the sails efficiently. As the breeze picks up (12 knots or more) a fourth person on the boat will help de-power the boat upwind and the extra pair of hands is always useful when flying the spinnaker.

With a 6:1 purchase on the main sheet trimming doesn't require too much effort. In fact it is very common for the driver to trim his own main. The traveller is 5:1 but carries a lot less load than the main sheet and so adjustments are quite easy.

The jib sheets are also continuous and the purchase when trimming is 2:1. Tacking the jib is easily accomplished by a single crew member.

Flying the spinnaker is very exciting on the Open 650. Since the spinnaker is asymmetrical there is no work to be done on the bow - all of the spinnaker handling is done from safety of the cockpit. The spinnaker only requires three lines for launching:

• The bowsprit line - which pulls the sprit out before launching the spinnaker.
• The tack line - which brings the tack of the spinnaker to the end of the bowsprit.
• The spinnaker halyard - which is 1:1 and only requires three good pulls to get the kite all the way up to the spinnaker hounds.

The spinnaker sheets are continuous and are run through 50:1 ratchet blocks. Even in breezy conditions the loads on the spinnaker sheets are relatively light and can be handled easily by any enthusiastic crew member regardless of their strength. The long sprit and continuous sheets make gybing fast and easy giving your team plenty of options when racing downwind. Dousing the spinnaker can be done on either gybe and one crew member can easily collect the sail and store it in the bag at the front the cockpit.

The Open 650 will simply blow your mind. The boat sails feels like a keel boat but feels like a dinghy... or the other way around. It is truly a magnificent boat: going upwind, the boat has a lot of righting moment and power through the chop. The long foil allows the 650 to sail as well as a 30 footer in the same conditions upwind. Downwind, the horse power is great and the planing hull a dream. The twin rudders are very well balanced and the helm is very neutral. Whether you are sailing in 6 knots or 25 knots, you will always be steering with 2 fingers only and will almost never have to fight the helm. Rounding the marks, or having to bear off in the puffs is being made very easy with the leeward rudder always deep down in the water.

The Open 650 is, in our humble opinion, the best day sailor out there. The boat is fast. Simply fast. The deck layout is very well thought out, and again, very simple. Finally, the boat is safe. With a light carbon mast and very deep center of gravity, the Open 650 is more stable than any other sportboats on the market, making it more powerful on the water. With the Open 650, you will "bear off to safely accelerate", not to de-power !!!

The Open 650 is too unique to race one design... So far, no other 21 foot boat had equaled the Open 650. However, European are definitely racing each other on the race course with similar boats, such as the Mach 6.5, the K650 and even the Open 750 on some occasions. In France and in the USA, a sportboat race circuit is slowly being put together where the boats can race using PHRF or Portsmouth rating. The first Open 650 to race is located Southern California. The current rating around the buoys is 90. That is 5 seconds faster than the Melges 24 rating in the same area.

Buying an Open 650 feels like purchasing a high value automobile. However, the cost of ownership is rather low. The boat can be dry sailed avoiding high cost of slip fees, bottom paint and cleaning. The insurance (day sail and racing) usually does not exceed $300 per year. Dry storage varies but is rather low. As long as you keep the boat cover and rinse it off after each use, the boat will not suffer. Down the road (2-3 years), touch ups may be done on the mast which is the only part of the boat that is not covered when the mast is up. We highly recommend the use of a boat cover to protect the deck, running rigging and hardware from the UV.