what is j class sailboat

International J/22 Class Association

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One-Design Class Type: Keelboat

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

Approximately how many class members do you have? 400

Photo Credit:Christopher Howell

Photo Credit: Christopher Howell

About International J/22 Class Association

People say the J/22 is the best sailing boat they’ve ever been on. It’s responsive, stable with its fixed lead keel and safe, as much fun to single-hand with main only as it is to plane under spinnaker in 18 knots of wind. The J/22 is the choice of one-design fleets and institutional sailing programs worldwide because she has proven to be a great value and a favorite among juniors and adults alike.

Boats Produced: 1,650

Class boat builder(s):

Approximately how many boats are in the USA/North America? Approx. 800

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

Does this class have a spinnaker or gennaker? Yes

How many people sail as a crew including the helm?  3-4

Ideal combined weight of range of crew:  602 lbs.

Boat Designed in  1983

Length (feet/inches): 22.5 Ft.

Beam: 8 Ft.

Weight of rigged boat without sails: 1, 889 lbs.

Draft: 3.8 Ft.

Mast Height: 26 Ft.

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At the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup, J-Class Yachts Are Back

These majestic boats, which were abandoned before World War II, are on the water again, built using old designs.

By Kimball Livingston

Falling off the deck of a giant J-Class yacht is not an everyday thing, but there is risk enough that each J in competition has a chase boat to rescue sailors who do fall. Imagine manhandling enormous sails on a narrow, slanting, pitching deck without the protective fencing of the lifelines that are standard on other boats.

There are no lifelines on J-Class boats because they would interfere with tacking the enormous forward sails, the jibs. And then there’s a century of tradition: Those lines would compromise the boat’s classic looks.

Around 50 boats are competing in the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup starting on Monday in Porto Cervo, Sardinia, including four J-Class yachts. While many of the boats will be 60- to 80-feet long, Js are well over 100 feet, with masts much taller than that. They tower majestically over other boats.

“The Js have the most graceful shape imaginable, and in their sheer scale they project a sense of grandeur that no other boats can match,” said John Kostecki, an Olympic medalist and America’s Cup winner. “The first time you see them on the water, they take your breath away.”

J-Class yachts had their own era in America’s Cup history. They were built from specifications laid down at the turn of the last century and chosen three times for America’s Cup matches between the United States and Britain from 1930 to 1937.

The original Js were extravagant throwaways, intended only for racing. Not one was kept in sailing trim through World War II. What wasn’t salvaged for war materials was simply abandoned. Original J-Class yachts were never intended for casual weekend sailing, and they had outlived their purpose for competition.

J-Class designs have since been resurrected by a few owners who can afford to indulge themselves in their beauty and romance. There are now seven in the world.

One competing in Sardinia is Velsheda, which was built in 1933 and abandoned in the mud in 1937. It was rescued in 1984 and now is owned and helmed by the Dutch businessman Ronald de Waal. It looks 1933-fresh after an extensive renovation.

The other Js racing on Monday are replicas of boats long discarded or designed but never built, and now constructed to modern standards and with modern features, like the 135-foot Ranger. Harold Vanderbilt defended the America’s Cup on the original Ranger in 1937.

The replica Ranger will be helmed by the 2007 America’s Cup winner Ed Baird, with Kostecki as the tactician.

Svea and Topaz are also replicas. Svea had been designed but not built in 1937, intended for a Swedish America’s Cup challenge that was canceled because of the war. It was launched in 2017, and its primary winches — for controlling the enormous sails — are customized for different maneuvers at different, hydraulically powered, computer-controlled rates of speed.

At 143 feet long with 176 feet of carbon mast, Svea is the longest and newest J.

Topaz, a 1935 design, was built in 2015 and will by helmed in Sardinia by Peter Holmberg, an Olympic medalist and America’s Cup winner.

In building replicas, there is no forgiveness in design below the water. However, compromises are allowed elsewhere. One such compromise is the gleaming house that rides above the deck on Ranger. Vanderbilt’s Ranger had no house for lounging in the shade, but the new house is a comfort spot for the owner and guests when the boat is not racing. During regattas, Kostecki said the structure was a visual obstacle for Baird.

Different lengths and weights also produce differences in performance. New boats are faster than old boats, in part because of the ability of modern materials and engineering to carry more tension on the forestay — linking the top of the mast to the front of the boat — to prevent sagging of the sails.

Tom Dodson of New Zealand, a sailmaker and tactician on Velsheda, said: “The new boats might carry 36 tons of load on the forestay. Velsheda at age 89 can handle at most 22 tons before the boat starts to twist and flex, but that’s still a lot of cars hanging off your mast.”

A time correction formula used in regattas allows boats launched decades apart to compete fairly.

“Some factors can be calculated and others can’t, but the boats are so big and so heavy that they push through the water at close to the same speed. The latest correction system seems to be working. Velsheda wins races. Topaz and Svea both won races in July at Palma,” Dodson said, referring to the Superyacht Cup in Spain.

Helming these boats is not stress free. Given their tonnage and outdated configuration, the long keel in particular, Js do not turn on a dime.

“These are far and away the hardest of all boats to steer accurately,” Dodson said. “When I have to step in [at the helm], maybe while Ron wipes his sunglasses, my heart rate shoots up. Along with responsibility for the safety of all, at the end of the day, if it’s a job well done that’s a lot of satisfaction — respect due.”

Francesco de Angelis has skippered in the America’s Cup for Italy and has sailed on many of the J-Class yachts now in commission.

“I began with Endeavour, the first of the three original Js to be restored,” he said. “I was curious because the class was such a milestone in yachting.”

As tactician now for Topaz, de Angelis said, “Because the boats are not highly maneuverable, gauging time and distance to the starting line requires you to commit to your approach with three minutes left in the countdown to the start.

“On the course, you can’t afford to make many maneuvers, so you have to choose well and execute well.” Once committed to a tack, “there’s no turning back.”

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The new J Class sailing yacht Lionheart

Lionheart was the third new J Class to be launched since Harold S Vanderbilt's successful America's Cup Defender, Ranger , took to the water in 1937. In 2003, a replica of Vanderbilt's Super J Ranger left the Danish Yacht boat yard and immediately began racing, followed six years later by the J Class replica of Endeavour II , renamed Hanuman , leaving the Royal Huisman Shipyard and competing successfully against Ranger just four months after launching. With the launch of the Hoek Design_ Lionheart_ from Claasen Jachtbouw the stakes have been raised again.

The meeting between the replicas of Ranger and Endeavour II was significant when the duo met in 1930s, Ra nger _was victorious, but the more recent _Endeavour II-r eplica, Ha numan, triumphed on the water 90 years later.

For Andre Hoek, a detailed research program focused on testing the various, original J Class designs revealed that Lionheart was one of the best set of designs available for an all-round, high-performance J.

When an existing client came to us for a third yacht, his main interest was a new J Class yacht,' says Hoek. 'He asked us what we would do if we were to build a new J and that led to a proposal to first do a dedicated research project to determine what would possibly be the best performing J Class yacht.

'We proposed to analyse the theoretical performance of all existing J Class lines and to develop a dedicated Velocity Prediction Program specifically geared to J Class hulls with long keels,' the marine architect explains, 'as the existing VPP software is all for round-bilged hulls with fin keels and spade rudders, which are totally different hydrodynamically to a long keel hull with a rudder that forms a flap on a long keel.'

The proposal was accepted and a new Velocity Prediction Program for typical J Class hulls was developed together with Peter van Oossanen (of wing keel and FDHF fame).

Tank test data of a 20 foot long model of the J Class _Rainbow _was used to calibrate the mathematical formula of the VPP program. With this new software, initially all possible Super Js (with a maximum waterline length of 26.51m) were analysed for performance both on line honours and handicap.

The five best-performing hulls from this research were then analysed using computational fluid dynamics software (CFD). The CFD analysis confirmed the VPP findings and the search was narrowed to three hull designs:

One of the eight tank-tested designs commissioned by Vanderbilt from W Starling Burgess and Olin Stephens for the Ranger 77-F project;

Svea , designed by Sweden's Tore Holm in 1938 but never built; and A Frank C Paine design that didn't progress beyond the drawing board.'Of the final three, Lionheart showed the best overall performance,' Hoek reveals. 'The Paine-designed Atlantis is a very good light wind and downwind boat and Svea is the best upwind boat.'

Furthermore, the research proves that the_ Lionheart_ design is faster than the lines chosen for the original Ranger a choice that was not due to flaws in the combined wisdom of Vanderbilt, Burgess and Stephens, but purely that tank testing with models of just under a metre in length is now known to supply inconclusive and misleading data.

Once the optimum design podium was full, the client purchased the intellectual property rights for the Burgess/Stephens Ranger 77-F designs from Sparkman and Stephens and optimisation began on the_ Lionheart_ hull, rig and sail plan. The process started with recreating the 1937 lines to ensure that both port and starboard matched a common error in early, hand-drawn, pre-digital designs.

Continuing research soon showed that the designs with the buoyancy further forward were more effective; wind tunnel testing produced the sail plan geometry, and rudder angle calculations with the new VPP dictated the mast position.

The next phase in the design process was hull strength and construction. While the original J Class yachts were built in steel, the J Class Association (JCA) allows the modern, replica yachts to use aluminium a farsighted decision by the JCA, but one that raises issues of longitudinal stiffness in yachts possessing the enormous overhangs synonymous with the classic J Class profile.

To prevent the characteristic hogging, sagging and alarmingly slack standing rigging associated with an elastic, aluminium hull, Hoek and his team used a 3D finite element model (FEM) to explore load levels throughout the yacht, resulting in an exquisite, internal lattice of aluminium supports to keep Lionheart stiff, and hull panels of multiple thicknesses dependant on specific load stress areas.

While the overall hull design remained faithful to the original, 1930s J Class remit, one aspect of the replica hulls had to change. 'We are allowed to raise the freeboard by 10cm and make a bulwark of an extra 10cm above the level of the deck,' confirms Hoek. 'These are the only two changes you are allowed to make to the original lines.'

The reason the JCA introduced the rule change is simple: 'It has everything to do with the fact that the boats were never built to be equipped with vast interiors, generators, powered winches, galleys and electronics,' Hoek explains. 'There were hardly any interiors in these boats and they were purely built for racing.'

However, J Class purists who fear that the sanctity of the original class rule has been compromised with modern tampering should realise that the truth is somewhat different.

'Most people think that a J Class has an extremely low freeboard with long overhangs,' continues Hoek. 'Especially when you look at the original, surviving boats Ve lsheda, Shamrock V _and _Endeavour.'

In reality, the modern equipment on Velsheda and _Endeavour _has sunk both yachts by around 30cm below their 1930s waterline.

'None of the surviving Js fit the original Universal Rule now,' he adds.

The Universal Rule ensured that waterline length was no longer than 87 feet (26.51m). 'In some of them, the waterline length is now about 95 feet as they are so much lower in the water,' states Hoek.

Historically, the 26.51m waterline achieved by the Super J yachts was a fundamental advantage an area researched heavily by Vanderbilt.

'In 1936, they did a test with Rainbow and ballasted her down to precisely 26.51m,' recalls Hoek. Sinking the yacht below her natural 24.99m waterline delivered immediate results.

'She was faster than she was before due to the improved righting moment, but still did well in light airs,' he adds. 'The conclusion that a Rainbow -type boat at 26.51m waterline length would be high performance led to all the subsequent Ranger designs.'

The implications of this issue are twofold in terms of performance and aesthetics, for although modern photographs of the surviving yachts suggest that reduced freeboard is more in keeping with tradition, the replica Js with their stretched overall length in the overhangs to compensate for the increased freeboard, share an identical design DNA.

'So, technically, the freeboard of the new boats is higher,' explains Hoek, 'but they are actually closer to the original.'

Lionheart's immaculate hull has been built at the Bloemsma yard, a key player in the current J Class revival, which has also been responsible for the hulls of Atlantis and Rainbow . Lionheart's fitting out was done at Claasen Jachtbouw with a team of 20 craftsmen and specialist contractors working with extraordinary co-ordination in the yacht's slender hull.

Deeper into the boat at the turn of the bilge in an area that charter guests are unlikely to visit the engine room is a masterpiece of space management. Despite the sheer volume of engineering squeezed into such a confined space, it is possible to stand upright and move around without skinning elbows or slipping discs.

And while Claasen Jachtbouw is famous for its exquisite joinery work and attention to detail, technical installations are to very high quality levels as well. MCM from Newport, USA, acted as the owner's representative a team of specialists that have added considerable experience to the build team. Their vast technical and big boat racing experience has also contributed to the end result on board.

For Victor Weerens, the yacht's project manager at Claasen Jachtbouw, Lionheart has been an exceptional experience.

'It has been a great project for us with many challenges,' he admits. 'But the team here and our sub-contractors have met all the demands of building a modern J.'

After launching she was taken up river to Zaandam for the stepping of the clear-coat carbon mast and boom from Hall Spars with Future Fibres PBO rigging.

Bugsy Gedlek; Claasen Jachtbuow; Freddie Bloemsma Aluminiumbuow; and courtesy of Hoek Design

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Launched January 2017

Design: Tore Holm

Image Credit:

Image Credit: 

Svea is the newest J Class yacht in the current fleet and was launched in January 2017. At 143ft/43.6m Svea has the longest LOA by 15cms.

Her original designs were drawn in 1937 by Swedish Olympian and renowned 6 and 8 Metre boat designer Tore Holm along with compatriot boatbuilder Gustav Plym, but war put paid to any hopes of a Swedish America’s Cup challenge.  The  designs were left untouched in a drawer until they were discovered by Dutch yachting historian and 8 Metre boat enthusiast John Lammerts van Bueren.

Designer Andre Hoek and a group of Dutch enthusiasts including an owner bought the designs and, after careful analysis and refinement in line with their VPP modelling, the hull and deck were built. But the owner pulled out. The project was bought by an American owner who, after having sailed on four other J Class yachts, wanted to compete at the 2017 J Class America’s Cup Regatta and the inaugural J Class World Championships in Newport that year.

While the two halves of the hull and the deck were built at Claasens, the build was completed at Vitters on a very tight schedule in order to be in Bermuda on time for the J Class America’s Cup regatta.

Svea encompasses powerful traditional lines infused with the latest race boat technology. She has a very low freeboard and an extremely clean deck layout and a notably low boom. One trademark is a very large wheel which is set into a deep recess. There are two big working cockpits split by a small doghouse. The halyard and spinnaker trimming winches and crew work out of the forward  cockpit.

Svea’s first races were at the America’s Cup Superyacht regatta in Bermuda in 2017. In 2018 after changes to the keel, a longer boom, bigger main and smaller jibs, Svea won the class at the Saint Barths Bucket in 2018.

In 2022 post pandemic Svea passed into the hands of two passionate Swedish yachtsmen, both accomplished racing enthusiasts, who were inspired to bring Svea – which translates as Mother Sweden – under her native Swedish flag.

After a short, intense week of training under tactician Bouwe Bekking, Svea proved her speed and power over the two main regattas they sailed that year, winning The Superyacht Cup Palma in June 2022 and then winning the class title at the Rolex Maxi Yacht Cup.

Svea is helmed by the owners at events sharing steering duties between them. Seven times round the world racer Bouwe Bekking is tactician, Steve Hayles is navigator and Tim Powell is project manager and mainsheet trimmer.

Length at waterline

displacement

upwind sail area

spinnaker sail area

2017 America’s Cup Superyacht Regatta, Bermuda

‍ 2018 saint barths bucket, ‍ 2018 superyacht cup palma, ‍ 2022 superyacht cup palma, ‍ 2022 maxi yacht rolex cup.

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J Class Class

​description.

• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

Revival of the Q Class – a mini J Class without all the costs and crew hassles

• August 17, 2016

The J Class may be the most famous yachts designed to the Universal Rule, but they are by no means the only ones. Rupert Holmes reports on the embryonic revival of the Q Class

Photo: James Robinson Taylor

Imagine owning a yacht with all the class, style and history of a J Class , but without the monumental costs and logistical challenges. This dream is well on the way to becoming a reality with the resurgence of the Q Class – the purchase and running costs of a Q are a whopping two orders of magnitude less than for the big yachts.

Anyone doubting the appeal of the Q Class has only to look at a list of former owners, which features two multiple America’s Cup winners, including Harold S. Vanderbilt in the 1920s and Dennis Conner, who undertook the first full restoration of a Q Class yacht.

The Q Class was the first built to the Universal Rule, which was adopted with the aim of providing more level racing by the New York Yacht Club after the 1903 America’s Cup. Prominent American designers, foremost among them the legendary Nathanael Herreshoff, drew up the Rule, and leading designers from around the world, including Charles E. Nicholson, Tore Holm and Johan Anker, were involved in drawing many of the boats. At least 16 Q Class boats were built between 1904 and 1937.

Most Q Class designs are a little under 50ft, with a beam of just over 9ft and a deep draught, although later boats tended to be a little longer and narrower. Although slightly beamier, they were very similar in terms of dimensions to the 8-metres built to the International Rule favoured in Europe at the time.

The revived class has a number of high-profile proponents, including French legend Bruno Troublé, former J Class secretary David Pitman and California-based yacht designer David Fladlien.

Restored examples

One boat that has already been making waves at classic regattas in the Mediterranean and UK is Pascal Oddo’s Jour de Fête . One of the later Q Class, she was built in 1930 to a design by Frank Paine and W. Starling Burgess and originally named Falcon ll . Jour de Fête underwent a complete restoration in 2007/08, retaining as many of the original fittings and timbers as possible.

She won a slew of prizes at last year’s Panerai British Classic Week , including 1st overall in Class 5 and the Lallow Cup for the best-presented new entrant. This followed a long run of successes in Mediterranean regattas including Marseille in 2013, 2014 and 2015, Les Voiles de St Tropez in 2014 and Panerai Antibes in the same year.

After World War II many of the boats migrated from the New England coast to the Great Lakes, particularly Chicago and Milwaukee, where a number were eventually lost. At one time it was thought that only three of the original boats were left, however Fladlien says: “I have information of various degrees of certainty about eight existing Q boats, including some which are sailing and others which are being restored.”

Leonore , a Johan Anker design built in Norway in 1925 and called Cotton Blossom ll for much of her life, was the first boat to undergo a full restoration. This was carried out in 2003/04 by Dennis Conner and she has been racing in classic regattas ever since. Grayling , a 1923 boat, is still racing in Canada’s Puget Sound, while Robin (from 1928) is available in California and ready for restoration.

Fladlien has developed a set of rules for the design of a modern-era Q Class, with the aim of bringing the class back in a modernised form. The vision is for two classifications: Vintage for pre-World War II designs and New Construction for those designed in very recent or contemporary times.

These would retain the same long overhangs, along with deep hulls to provide lots of headroom. Both classifications are included in a revised Universal Rule for the Q Class, with limitations imposed to keep the boats, old and new, reasonably close in performance.

The handicap system is based on a velocity prediction program (VPP) under which both new and vintage boats can race together with time allowance in a similar manner to the one currently used very successfully by the J Class.

SEA&SEE/Guido Cantini

The new rule also introduces a number of changes to make Qs both faster and more capable: modern wood construction, broader stern sections to provide a longer sailing length and better downwind stability, lower centre of gravity keel and higher aspect ratio sail plan for upwind efficiency.

At the same time, design restrictions have been increased, to discourage extreme shapes, while mandatory accommodation arrangements are intended to ensure cruising capabilities in the new boats. The rule allows for modern Q Class yachts to be built from wood epoxy, aluminium or composite, by any designer and any yard.

They are stunning boats that stand every chance of gathering an enthusiastic following.

Dimensions (Jour de Fête)

LOA 15.85m/52ft 0in

LWL 10.20m/33ft 7in

Beam 2.74m/9ft 0in

Draught 2.13m/7ft 0in

Displacement 10 tons

www. qclassyachts.com

At around 50ft the Q Class is still sufficiently large and powerful to have a good turn of speed, while even the best racing crews will have plenty to tweak and manoeuvres to perfect. This is Leonore .

Greater beam than typical European designs of the same period allows for more accommodation space

After Dennis Conner’s ownership, Cotton Blossom ll reverted to her original name of Leonore and her hull was painted white. She is in outstanding condition

Robin is an unrestored original Q Class. She’s lying at Rutherford’s Boatshop in Richmond, California and has the potential to make a hugely rewarding project