Deltania Mini

It looks like quite the yacht at some angles, but the Deltania Mini from Germany is actually only 7 .5 feet long and weighs a scant 77 pounds—light enough even to cartop.

The helmsman’s seating position is located right in the companionway, where the rudder is operated via a joystick. All sheets and halyards are led back into the cockpit for easy handling. The centerboard, which can be operated from the cockpit, allows the draft to be adjusted.

We reached out to Deltania CEO Pascal Ernst to ask him about the boat’s inception.

“We built the first boat for my son,” Ernst says. “He didn't want to sail an Optimist.” Since then they’ve built 160 of the little boats.

Ernst suggests that although light, the Mini is fairly seaworthy with its ballasted centerboard.

The Deltania website says that “thanks to its easy handling and light weight, the Deltania Mini can be in the water in no time. Its shallow draft also makes it possible to explore even shallow waters.” We’d also imagine racing with a fleet of these “smallest sailboats in the world” could be a lot of fun.

The boats sell for about $6700 U.S.•SCA•