The world’s smallest ocean racing yachts will be among the fleet when the biennial single-handed Bermuda 1-2 Race gets underway from Newport, Rhode Island on Friday.Four Mini 6.5 boats, measuring just 21 feet, will join 27 other boats as they attempt the 635-mile crossing.Co-organisers are the St. George’s Dinghy and Sports Club, although no Bermuda sailors are taking part.Brian Oatley, chairman of the East End club’s sailing committee, who flies up to Newport today for the race start, said: “These boats are the sports cars of the sailing world. They are small, light and extremely fast for their size. Six years ago one of them crossed the line fourth overall, with the three vessels beating them being a Open 50, an Open 40 and a J130.”The race will be followed by double-handed race back to Newport on June 16.The Bermuda 1-2 has traditionally been a navigator’s race as it crosses the Gulf Stream. And this year is no different as the Gulf Stream is building up for an unusual bend, accompanied with a significant amount of current.Sailors will have to contend with current and a large cold water eddy spinning right on the rhumb line. Their challenge is to find the fastest route through this maze of wind and currents.The event is opened to all types of yachts, measuring up to 46 feet.One of the organisers, Roy Guay, states on the Bermuda 1-2 website: “The objective of this particular race is and remains the making of a single-handed/shorthanded passage, which encourages safety, good seamanship, communication, and on-going gear and technique development and testing.“It is an event designed to accommodate and challenge both single-handed cruisers and racers alike from the ‘rock star’ to the Corinthian ‘every man’. The race is sailed in two parts: Leg One by a lone skipper from Newport to Bermuda and, following a brief layover, Leg Two back Newport with one crew member hence the origin of the event’s name.“Experience gained from the Bermuda One-Two has led some of its alumni to embark on longer single-handed voyages, such as the Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race (STAR), the Europe Two-STAR, and the BOC, Round Alone single-handed circumnavigational races.”St. George’s Dinghy and Sports Club host between four and five events annually, having already welcomed sailors in the Atlantic Cup Cruising Race which saw 21 boats race from Tortola to St. George in early May, and the ARC Europe 2011 in mid-May which had 24 vessels in a rally that originates in Tortola, stops in Bermuda before heading for the Azores.The club will also host the North American Rally to the Caribbean (NARC) in November, which is a race to the Caribbean and usually with between 20 and 30 yachts competing.