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The
M65
initiative was conceived and developed by The
Mini Store LLC, headquartered in Marblehead,
Massachusetts. Formed in 2004 to introduce the Mini 6.50
to North America, The Mini
Store has been developing an online Mini
community where Mini enthusiasts in the US and Canada
can find a resource of information on all things Mini.
In Q4 2009, The
Mini Store will be launching a sister
website at ministoreusa.com,
which will offer just about anything one needs to own,
build, sail or race a Mini. The
Mini Store
is also working on the development of Mini races in North
America, but it won't be until 2010 at the earliest before
the first races are held as there are only about a dozen
Minis actively sailing in US and Canadian waters. Jeffrey
Dingle is the Founder and President of The
Mini Store.
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The
M65
was desgned by the
UK-based naval architecture
firm
Owen
Clarke Design.
Owen
Clarke
exists
to continually advance yacht design, fulfilling sailors'
passions for fast and beautiful boats. The people at Owen
Clarke
believe in driving innovative thinking and pushing technological
frontiers to achieve design excellence in cruising and
racing. Size doesn’t matter – speed does.
Performance is everything. From 21 ft to 70 ft plus, Owen
Clarke racing designs are stunning, thrilling - and very
fast! Owen
Clarke
has designed some of the most successful offshore racing
boats to include Ellen MacArthur's Open 60 Kingfisher,
Mike Golding's and Dee Caffari's Open 60s
Ecover 3 and Aviva,
and Phillipe Kahn's Open 50 Pegasus.
They have also designed five proto Minis. OCD's
partners are Merfyn Owen and Allen
Clarke. Tim Sadler runs their
Auckland, New Zealand office.
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| PORTA
FIBERGLASS
portafiberglass.com |
Porta
Fiberglass built
the tooling molds and the M65
composite structure. They have been fabricating custom
tooling and composite structures for more than ten years
at their 20,000 square foot facility located in Edgewater,
FL.
Todd Fuhrmann is the President of Porta
Fiberglass.
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| VENDOR
PARTNERS
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The
Mini Store
has
developed exclusive vendor partnerships with companies
in key equipment and product categories. Current vendor
partners and OEM suppliers for the M65
are:
US Spars - Spars
& Rigging • Doyle
- Sails
Lewmar - Deck Hardware,
Hatches • Ronstan
- Blocks, Tracks
& Cars
Samson -
Running Rigging
• Wichard
- Padeyes, Shackles, Fasteners
ProFurl
- Headsail Furlers • IQ
Solar - Solar Panels
Genasun
- Lithium Ion Batteries, Solar Charge Controllers
ePaint
- Marine Paints • Gill
- Foul Weather Gear.
Electronics,
Safety Gear and other strategic supplier partners will
be added soon.
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