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Yachting World

• Digital Edition

A pocket guide to the J Class yachts – the world’s most elegant racing fleet

• Toby Hodges
• March 19, 2017

Toby Hodges profiles the world's most beautiful fleet of classic racing yachts – the J Class

Shamrock V – JK3

J Class yacht Shamrock sailplan

LOA: 36.50m /119ft 9in · LWL: 26.7m/87ft 7in · Beam: 6.00m/19ft 8in · Disp: 166 tonnes

Original lines: Charles E Nicholson

Modified design: Dykstra Naval Architects

Launch year and yard: 1930, Camper & Nicholsons

Identifying features: The only wooden J and the smallest. Dark green hull with bronze deck fittings.

Current state: She has just had a refit in Palma after a long period under her past owner chartering, cruising and occasional racing.

Race prediction:Her smaller size means she will struggle against the other J Class yachts in real time – but she has the most experienced skipper and her recent mods are all aimed at making her competitive on handicap.

Skipper: Simon Lacey · Race Helmsman: Mike ‘Moose’ Sanderson

Photo: J Class Association / Gerhard Standop

Velsheda – JK7

J Class yacht Velsheda sailplan

LOA: 39.25m/128ft 9in · LWL: 27.8m/91ft 3in · Beam: 6.57m/21ft 7in · Disp: 180 tonnes

Launch year and yard: 1933, Camper & Nicholsons. Rebuilt by Southampton Yacht Services in 1997.

Identifying features: Dark blue hull, pinched transom and that iconic sharp J bow.

Current state: Continually optimised and very well prepared.

Race prediction: Highly experienced, well-gelled crew and a yacht that is looking particularly nimble and aggressive at the start. Despite surrendering size to the modern J Class yachts she’s a firm favourite to win any regatta.

Skipper: Barney Henshaw-Depledge · Race helmsman: Owner-driver

Helen Fretter goes racing on board J Class yacht Velsheda

Photo: J Class Association / Onne van der Wal

Endeavour – JK4

J Class yacht Endeavour sailplan

LOA: 39.31m/128ft 12in · LWL: 27.30m/89ft 7in · Beam: 6.68m/21ft 11in · Disp: 175 tonnes

Launch year and yard: 1934, Camper & Nicholson. Relaunched by Royal Huisman in 1989.

Identifying features: Royal ‘Endeavour Blue’ hull, clean deck, single deckhouse.

Current state: Completely refitted by Yachting Developments in 2010-11. Based between Palma and Cascais she is for sale through Edmiston and in prize condition.

Race prediction: Fully optimised and race ready, but is up for sale and now already unlikely to be ready in time for Bermuda.

Skipper: Luke Bines · Race helmsman: N/A (Torben Grael in 2012)

Video exclusive: what it’s like to sail the iconic J Class Endeavour

Photo: J Class Association / Jens Fischer

Ranger – J5

J Class yacht Ranger sailplan

LOA: 41.63m/136ft 7in · LWL: 28.80m/94ft 6in · Beam: 6.41m/21ft 0in · Disp: 203 tonnes

Original design: Starling Burgess and Olin Stephens

Modified design: Studio Scanu, Reichel Pugh, Fred Elliot and Dykstra Naval Architects

Launch year and yard: 2003, Danish Yacht

Identifying features: White hull with snub nose and spoon bow.

Current state: Refitted and optimised at Newport Shipyard 2016, where chainplates were moved forward and tracks modified to take a bigger headsail.

Race prediction: The heaviest J, but a rocket in flat water, such as in Bermuda’s Great Sound. A veteran crew whose consistency is Ranger’s trump card.

Skipper: Dan Jackson · Race helmsman: Erle Williams

Ranger J5 – the first completely new J Class yacht

Ranger , J5 RYS centenary 2015. Photo Paul Wyeth

Rainbow – JH2

J Class yacht Rainbow sailplan

LOA: 39.89m/130ft 11in · LWL: 26.90m/88ft 3in · Beam: 6.42m/21ft 1in · Disp: 167 tonnes

Original lines: William Starling Burgess

Launch year and yard: 2012, Holland Jachtbouw

Identifying features: Black hull, red bottom and modern grey rig with race boom.

Current state: Sold in 2015 by Chris Gongriep, the former owner of Holland Jachtbouw, she has since solely been used for cruising by her US owner who shows no signs of wanting to race, although she will be in Bermuda to watch.

Race prediction: Was cruised and raced extensively for a couple of seasons after she was built and has proven to be a supremely fast boat for her size in the right hands.

J Class yacht Rainbow – the Dutch destroyer

Hanuman – JK6

J Class yacht Hanuman sailplan

LOA: 42.19m/138ft 5in · LWL: 27.50m/90ft 3in · Beam: 6.60m/21ft 8in · Disp: 180 tonnes

Launch year and yard: 2009 Royal Huisman

Identifying features: Carries the old Endeavour II sail number JK6 – but a totally modern day reinterpretation of Sopwith’s second boat, built in aluminium.

Current state: Her weight and stability were optimised at Newport Shipyard in 2016 and she was also fitted with a new mast and rigging, plus a new furling headstay.

Race prediction: With her same core Comanche/Puma crew and Ken Read on the wheel, this is a highly race-oriented J Class yacht.

Skipper: Greg Sloat · Race helmsman: Ken Read

Inside J class yacht Hanuman

Lionheart JH1

J Class yacht Lionheart sailplan

LOA: 43.4m/142ft 5in · LWL 27.2m/89ft 3in · Beam: 6.55m/21ft 6in · Disp: 180 tonnes

Original lines: Starling Burgess and Olin Stephens

Modified design: Hoek Design

Launch year and yard: 2010, Bloemsma and Claasen Jachtbouw

Identifying features: Black hull and rig, bulwarks giving a high freeboard effect, two deckhouses.

Current state: Constantly upgraded, Lionheart has new North raw sails with plans to build more sails before Bermuda.

Race prediction: Lionheart is consistently optimised, has some key pros and a fantastic crew spirit. Should be finishing in the top three in Bermuda.

Skipper: Toby Brand · Race helmsman: Owner-driver · Tactics: Bouwe Bekking

J Class yacht Lionheart J/H1 – replica of an original that was never built

Photo: J Class Association / Thierry Martinez

J Class yacht Topaz sailplan

LOA: 42.7m/140ft 1in · LWL: 27.8m/91ft 3in · Beam: 6.75m/22ft 2in · Disp: 180 tonnes

Original lines: Frank Paine

Launch year and yard: 2015, Holland Jachtbouw

Identifying features: Longest waterline of all the Js (for which there is a sail area penalty) she has a striking Art Deco interior and a dark blue hull with turquoise antifoul.

Current state: New and raring to go.

Race prediction: With her fuller volume forward, longer waterline and shorter keel, Hoek believes she will be the fastest J Class downwind and in light airs. The crew has practised hard since last year and now has top big boat helm in Holmberg.

Skipper: Romke Lopik · Race helmsman: Peter Holmberg

New J Class yacht named Topaz is launched – and the design team says she is “absolutely stunning”

Photo: J Class Association / Carlo Borlenghi

J Class yacht Svea sailplan

LOA: 43.6m/143ft 1in · LWL: 27.6m/90ft 7in · Beam: 6.65m/21ft 10in · Disp: 180 tonnes

Original lines: Tore Holm

Launch year and yard: 2017, Bloemsma / Vitters

Identifying features: Dark grey metallic hull, near flush ultra-clean, ergonomically optimised deck with low single doghouse and huge 8ft diameter wheel that turns in a well that extends down to the keel frames.

Current state: Just launched.

Race prediction: Tore Holm was a gifted Metre designer and Svea looks like a fast upwind boat, with a race oriented deck design and a slippery underwater shape. It’s asking a lot of her crew to be competitive for 2017.

Skipper: Paul ‘PK’ Kelly

Race helmsman: Owner driver

Nine Js and counting: J Class Svea J-S1 is sold and under construction at Vitters

The history of the J-Class

The Js are inextricably linked with the America’s Cup as, barring Velsheda , all were built for the purpose of America’s Cup racing. From 1929 to 1937, 20 J Class yachts were designed. Ten of these went on to be built, with six racing in the America’s Cup finals. A modern J Class yacht’s  lines can only be taken from the original designs, ensuring the fleet’s look endures.

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• By Mark Schrader
• Updated: December 5, 2001

While the racing heritage of the J/Boats-TPI partnership is legendary and their genuine contribution to the Joy Of Sailing enormous, nothing yet produced by that design-and-build team punctuates those achievements as impressively as the new J/160. In today’s world of better equipment, more exotic materials and truly sophisticated design, stretching the parameters of the old “performance cruiser” is long overdue. This boat gives modern sailors racing and cruising performance without requiring the burden of a large crew. On a more subjective level, all in a glance she is clean, simple, elegant, comfortable, fast and capable.

With modern composite construction, a typically easily-driven J/Boat hull form and a very low center of gravity, the 160 needs less sail area for comparable performance than do other sailboats in the 50-foot-plus size range. This translates into lower winch loads, easier sail management, more relaxed cruising and racing.

The standard Hall triple-spreader aluminum rig (a Hall carbon fiber rig is a tempting, albeit expensive, option) carries a large, low-aspect-ratio mainsail and a comparatively small, high-aspect-ratio foretriangle. This big-main/small-headsail combination is efficient for any kind of sailing and easily managed by a diminutive crew. For relaxed cruising or offshore work, a furling #3 jib is recommended in conjunction with the main. The jib is a cinch to tack, and trimming the main with the 6:1 Lewmar Ocean Racing mainsheet traveler system is equally unconstrained.

On deck and in the cockpit the hardware and winches are arranged so that almost all sail handling, hoisting and trimming can be done easily from a safe position aft. Sitting outboard of the large (66″) wheel gives the helmsperson an excellent view forward, and this driver’s seat actually becomes more comfortable as the boat heels. Leaving the helm station to go forward in the cockpit is a step-up-and-go-around-the-wheel affair, potentially awkward in dicey sailing conditions. All the way aft, the scoop transom makes for convenient boarding from the water, dinghy or dock. Up on the bow, a large storage locker with an overhead deck hatch provides room to stow sails, ground tackle, lines, fenders and errant gear.

Setting a spinnaker on a 53-foot sailboat without a full crew was never at the top of most people’s Must Do list. Enter the modern-day asymmetrical kite, a retractable pole disguised as a bowsprit, and a cockpit-operated snuffer system. On the 160, relaxed shorthanded spinnaker work becomes routine. And that’s without even going forward.

Belowdeck, the 160 is nothing short of elegant. The interior is offered in all-teak or all-cherry wood, with enough off-white laminate and trim to promote that open, spacious sensation. The layout emphasizes liveaboard and long-term cruising comfort, with pumps and machinery grouped in convenient, accessible locations for easy inspection and service.

Aft of the companionway to port and starboard are two staterooms, one accessible to the after head, sink and shower. The cabins are snug yet comfortable, with 48-inch wide berths and good available storage. Just forward of the companionway to port is a roomy J-shaped galley, with a double sink close to centerline and a gimbaled three-burner Force 10 stove outboard. Icebox/refrigerator capacity is vast (12.5 cubic feet), general storage is ample, the wraparound design of the galley, secure and safe.

The forward-facing nav station opposite the galley offers visible and protected space for mounting the latest yacht electronics. Extra-tall fiddles keep charts, books and pencils from ending up on the floor; a curved, contoured seat keeps the navigator from doing the same. The main saloon features a settee berth to starboard and a full-size pilot berth outboard of the oval dining settee to port. All the way forward is the owner’s cabin — truly a “stateroom” — with a 56″ x 78″ double berth, shelves, storage and hanging lockers, a vanity, a private head with shower…the works.

Engine and mechanical installations are excellent. Seacocks are tagged, all plumbing hoses below the waterline are double clamped, access to machinery — engine, shaft, optional generator, watermaker and so on — is handy, and ventilation to those areas is good. A turbo-charged 88-horsepower Yanmar connected to a 22-inch Martec folding prop delivers a comfortable and quiet cruising speed of 8 knots plus. Tankage is formidable at 95 gallons for fuel and 162 for fresh water.

Construction emphasizes light weight by way of TPI’s signature SCRIMP resin-infusion molding technique. Hull and deck are cored with Baltek end-grain balsa, with solid glass at critical structural junctures such as where the chainplates attach. All bulkheads are tabbed on both sides. Hull-to-deck features an in-turned flange sealed with structural sealant and fastened mechanically every four inches.

The hull is designed with a fine entry and short overhangs, moderate topside flare, and a low-wetted-surface underbody. The rudder is a balanced high-aspect spade. Two antimony-hardened cast lead keels are offered, the deeper of which is 11,000 pounds and draws 8’10″, the other 12,000 pounds and 7’0″. They are externally mounted. The non-dimensional ratios point to a lot of sailpower and relatively light displacement, and the limit of positive stability according to the designer is a whopping 140 degrees (a respectable 125 degrees by IMS calculations).

Sailing the 160 is every bit as fun as advertised. Hoisting the main takes a tolerable amount of effort (unless you spring for the electric winch option), and from there you simply pick a direction and go fast. Extending the bowsprit, setting the kite, jibing it and dousing it are simple. Behavior on all points of sail is truly refined; the platform feels as stable as something much larger, but the response to helm, trim and tweaking is very apparent.

The base price of the J/160 is advertised at $497,550, with an estimated sailaway figure, depending upon your choice of equipment, sails and rig, in the $550,000 to $700,000 range. If you require quality, performance, elegance, safety, a yacht built to exceed the Offshore Yacht Service standards of ABS, and a 10-year hull warranty against blistering, then this boat has to be at the top of the list. Rod Johnstone has expanded the parameters of the “performance cruiser” genre, and TPI has built the vessel strong enough to prove that lighter can be better.

• More: 2001 - 2010 , 50+ ft , Bluewater Cruising , J/Boats , keelboat , monohull , racer / cruiser , Sailboat Reviews , Sailboats
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• Sailboat Guide

J/105 is a 34 ′ 6 ″ / 10.5 m monohull sailboat designed by Rod Johnstone and built by J Boats and Waterline Systems, LLC starting in 1995.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

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JY15 Class Association

Class contact information.

Click below

Class Email

Class Website

One-Design Class Type: Dinghy

Was this boat built to be sailed by youth or adults? Both

Approximately how many class members do you have? 75

Photo Credit:Randy Burke

Photo Credit:

About JY15 Class Association

The JY15 is a great two person sloop rigged dinghy. Easy to rig, easy to handle, comfortable. Great for a lazy sail or some competitive racing. Designed by Rod Johnstone

Boats Produced: Around 3000

Class boat builder(s):

WindRiderInternational

Approximately how many boats are in the USA/North America? 3000

Where is your One-Design class typically sailed in the USA? List regions of the country:

Greatest concentration in Northeast. Also sailed in the Great Lakes area, Texas and California

Does this class have a spinnaker or gennaker? No

How many people sail as a crew including the helm?  2-4

Ideal combined weight of range of crew:  300

Boat Designed in  Approximately 1989

Length (feet/inches): 15’

Weight of rigged boat without sails: 285

Draft: 3’ centerboard

Mast Height: 22’

Back to One-Design Central

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JY15 Sailboat

JY understands the weekend warrior in you. You don’t have the time to tinker with a boat…or train 7 days a week. You want to launch your boat and go be a contender. With the JY15, the boat you buy is the boat you race. And because the JY15 is so fun and easy to sail, finding crew is a breeze.

Look around you right now…your crew could be your husband, wife, girlfriend, boyfriend, children or grandchildren. And boy, will they love our crew friendly curves with gunwales designed for comfortable hiking.

With over 80 active fleets and more than 2000 JY15s nationwide, you’ll never have a problem finding someone to play with.

• Self bailing, ergo dynamic cockpit
• Kick up rudder and centerboard for easy beaching
• An extremely stable 275 lb. hull that allows for a greater range of crew weight
• Flared sides provide a comfortable hiking edge
• One Design specifications ensure that every boat is the same
• A planing hull that you’ll never outgrow

The JY15 sailboat is sold "ready to sail" but add-ons are available such as a trailer or dolly.

Dimensions:

• Length: 15'
• Beam: 5' 10"
• Main: 100 sq. ft.
• Jib: 35 sq. ft.
• Mast Height: 22′

Optional Add-ons:

• Trailer: $1695
• Dolly: $511

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