The K6 is primarily a two person sportboat, but there are several other and more subtle attributes that distinguish
it from other boats in this category. It is a simple, yet sophisticated boat, bred from Rondar’s 505 heritage that was conceived and designed primarily to be fast, fun and easy to handle. The displacement/length ratio was kept as low as practical
for early planning, and the narrow easily driven hull
has plenty of rocker aft to lift the rear sections out of the water in light air. Because of the
relatively narrow beam with round hull sections, the drag coefficient of the hull shape does not
alter significantly over the first 22 degrees of heel. This means that it
does not have to be sailed flat to be fast, and it will track straight in gusts, making the K6 easy to sail and less prone
to loss of control and wipe outs than wide boats.
The relatively high ballast
ratio and narrow beam ensures that the K6 is very difficult to capsize to a mast on the water
state, and very rapidly recovers should it do so. It also has a more sophisticated
rig with the ability to alter the tension and power of the rig while sailing. All of this makes the K6 less sensitive to crew weight than wider sportboats, and the close fleet racing in Europe and the US with a broad
range of weight on board reflects this. The design optimum weight is around 375lb, but crews from around 350lb to 450lb can
sail competitively, and the boat can also be sailed by three lighter sailors with just enough cockpit space.
The K6 is the lightest of its type and the narrow hull with
fine entry is easily driven so the sail area is kept low which keeps the sheet loads low. All the controls are centrally placed for skipper or crew, along
with a self tacking jib, chute launcher and the asymmetric kite - crewing a performance boat has never been easier. This means
that it is possible for couples and families to be competitive, even in a breeze.
More importantly it opens up crew options and that gets more boats onto the starting line more
often.
The K6 was also designed to be easy to rig and launch and inexpensive to own and transport. On shore
it is easily handled and takes the least space to store. Launching can be with a hoist or from a ramp or hard beach. In fact,
the K6 was designed to be ramp
launched by hand using the supplied custom dolly (that nests into a road trailer base for over the road transport), and its
furling jib, permanently rigged keel hoist system, and lifting rudder make sailing off a ramp as easy as possible. For longer
distances, the dimensions allow for several boats to fit in a 20ft container, minimizing
shipping costs.
Ownership costs are kept down due to the vacuum bagged epoxy construction that that will make the hull last many years.
The class also uses specified sails from a single sailmaker to keep sail costs down and standardize tuning within the class.
The K6 has attributes of a keelboat and dinghy. Its light
weight makes for high performance while the keel and high ballast ratio keeps it all under control. The boat was introduced in 2002 and over 100 have been sold with fleets in the UK, Europe, and now the US. Here
are some of the key parameters:
