The RS K6 has been quietly building a reputation for great handling and performance. If you’ve tried one, the chances are you’re hooked. The American Yacht Club on Long Island Sound, New York, have done exactly that. After evaluating several options for a new keelboat class at the club, they loved the K6 and an initial order for 12 boats will launch the fleet at the start of the 2007 season. Does this makes the K6 the first British designed and built keelboat to take off in the States for some time?

Meanwhile back in the UK a similar process has taken place at Itchenor Sailing Club in Chichester Harbour, where only specified classes race and a new fleet is big news. After a season of trials the K6 has been chosen as the perfect boat for many of their dinghy sailors bred on asymmetric spinnakers, speed and responsive manners, to graduate into. A programme of joint racing with the Hayling Island based K6s will see some top competition in that area.

The K6 is 6m long, weighs in at only 280kg ready to sail and can be launched from a dinghy style trolley. Speed is in the top league, but the 125kg keel bulb means swimming can be a thing of the past for dinghy and skiff sailors. Over eighty boats have now been sold and momentum is building as the word spreads.