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Key Yachting Ltd.

Key Yachting Ltd. Firefly Road, Hamble Point Marina, Hamble, Hampshire, UK. SO31 4NB

+44 (0)23 8045 5669

Key Yachting

Sole UK and Ireland distributor for 4 of the world’s leading boat brands.

As well as being the exclusive agent & distributor for new J Boats, Grand Soleil, Tofinou, and Nautitech in the UK & Ireland, the Key Yachting team also manage an extremely active brokerage business, selling pre-loved yachts built by brands focused on premium and performance.

Our UK office is at Hamble Point Marina, perfectly located in one of the busiest areas for sailing & racing in the country. Additionally we offer a variety of boat repair and maintenance services, and stock a large range of brand specific spares and parts. You are welcome to visit us to view our range of new or pre-owned yachts for sale in Hamble.

Pre-loved Boats

As an established yacht broker in Hamble, our 25 years of experience provides us with an extensive network of sailors; enabling us to successfully sell used boats built by the brands we represent.

To compliment our primary business of the sale of new and used performance sailing yachts, we have expanded our operation to encompass the needs of our owners to include:

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• Boats for Sale

New and used J/Boats for sale

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Find your dream J/Boats on TheYachtMarket today. We have J/Boats brokers and sellers from around the world at great prices.

History of J/Boats

J/Boats is a renowned American boat manufacturer that was founded by Rod Johnstone in 1977. The company began its journey in Rod's garage in Stonington, Connecticut, where the initial design of the now iconic J/24 was born. The immense popularity of this thrilling 24-foot performance sailboat was instrumental in putting J/Boats on the global sailing map.

Throughout its illustrious history, J/Boats has maintained a strong family-ran ethos, with members of the Johnstone family serving in key roles within the company. Today, the brand stands as a testament to the passion and dedication of the Johnstone family, who take immense pride in every boat designed, sold, and sailed.

Now based in Newport, Rhode Island, J/Boats has produced over 14,000 boats that are currently sailing in over 35 countries worldwide. J/Boats continues to design and produce world-class sailboats that are competitive, comfortable, and easy-to-handle, reinforcing their position as a leader in high-performance cruiser-racers. From the one-design championship boats to their cruising yachts, all J/Boats reflect the company's commitment to performance, innovative designs, and quality. They have also been recipients of numerous awards and accolades in the sailing industry.

Which models do J/Boats produce?

J/Boats produce a range of boats including the J/Boats J100 , J/Boats J105 , J/Boats J109 , J/Boats J120 and J/Boats J22 . For the full list of J/Boats models currently listed on TheYachtMarket.com, see the model list in the search options on this page.

What types of boats do J/Boats build?

J/Boats manufactures a range of different types of boats. The ones listed on TheYachtMarket include Sloop , Racing boat , Day boat , Keelboat and Cruiser/racer .

How much does a boat from J/Boats cost?

Used boats from J/Boats on TheYachtMarket.com range in price from £3,000 GBP to £12,600,000 GBP with an average price of £493,000 GBP . A wide range of factors can affect the price of used boats from J/Boats, for example the model, age and condition.

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BOAT TEST: J/YACHTS J/99 (WITH GALLERY)

99 problems (but the boat ain’t one).

The J/99 performance cruiser has already become J/Boats’ most successful model of its size for a long time. Rupert Holmes put it through its paces

There are many attractions to choosing a boat with good performance potential for cruising, especially on that’s configured for short-handed sailing. For a start, the slippery hull shape and generous sail area boosts light airs performance, which translates to more time having fun and less tedious time spent motoring.

Equally, you can expect the boat to be more responsive to sail controls and trimming, adding to the fun factor and making the boat more rewarding to sail. At the same time, decent deck gear, in a carefully thought out layout can make sail handling a breeze, even when working alone, which helps to tame the powerful rig.

However, one of the biggest advantages of a performance design is fast passage making. In effect this makes weather windows bigger – you can get further before the following bout of bad weather – and helps to extend cruising areas.

First impressions are of a quick, easily handled design with a well fitted and comfortable interior, albeit with less space than a pure cruiser. The relatively broad transom is by no means radical by today’s standards, the boats aft sections are optimised for a single rudder and there are no chines. The rudder is positioned reasonably well forward where it operates clear of the most turbulent water – whereas twin rudders tend to be placed right aft so that they can be reached to clear weed.

J/99 accommodation

Many high volume cruising yachts give the impression they were designed around a requirement to fit a certain amount of accommodation in a hull of a given length. However, the J/99 follows a much more traditional approach – draw a hull shape that’s optimised for efficient sailing and then craft the interior to fit that space.

The result is both pleasant in harbour and very workable at sea, even though there’s less space overall than a pure cruising boat of this size. There are two mirror image double aft cabins, forward of which is a galley to port and proper chart table with its own seat to starboard. The galley is of a reasonable size but in standard spec is relatively sparsely equipped.

There’s a good standard of finish, but without an abundance of timber. This is exactly in keeping with the ethos of this style of boat, while white moulded surfaces help to provide a bright appearance and are easy to maintain. There are also excellent hand holds and fiddles – factors that are all too often missing.

The saloon has a substantial table, plus two settees that also make good sea berths, while the heads is beyond the main bulkhead and sail storage area right forward.

Each of the aft cabins is a comfortable double and has well planned stowage, including deep fiddled shelves and bins in which items that need to be accessed easily can be kept. Both are well ventilated in port, with opening ports outboard and in the aft bulkhead to the cockpit.

J/99 o n deck

The T-shape of the cockpit is configured to work with either tiller or wheel steering, though it’s hard to see how the extra complication and weight of a wheel could be justified on a boat of this size. Loads on the tiller are low, unless the boat is pushed far harder on a spinnaker reach than any cruiser would sail.

Sail controls include a cockpit mounted mainsheet traveller, powerful backstay, vang and mainsheet purchases, plus spinnaker gear. Deck gear is from a variety of manufacturers, with each item optimised to its purpose, including Antal clutches and Harken winches, while the test boat’s electronics were by B&G.

The keel stepped twin spreader aluminium mast from AG+ has a custom section created specifically for the J/99. This incorporates a track to accommodate either standard luff car sliders or a mainsail with a bolt rope . An extended masthead crane allows for a semi square top sail, while avoiding the need for running backstays.

A wide range of options include twin rudders, water ballast, wheel steering and a symmetric spinnaker. For our test the boat was equipped with main and jib from Incidences, plus a large North Sails asymmetric spinnaker and a latest generation furling North Helix Code 0. The latter makes for easy handling, even in boisterous conditions, as well as giving better sail shape in light airs.

J/99 u nder sail

Our test took place on a bright and crisp day with a north to north-westerly breeze in the upper teens, with occasional puffs well beyond 20 knots. We sailed the first boat out of the mould, configured with a single rudder and tiller steering.

The helm position is excellent, with the mainsail controls, including mainsheet fine tune, traveller and backstay all falling easily to hand. There are also reassuringly chunky foot chocks. If cross winched to the windward side the jib sheet winch could also easily be reached from the helm. Combined with pilot controls on both sides, as well as by the companionway, this arrangement makes for easy, yet efficient, sailing even if there’s only one person on deck.

Sailing upwind with full main and a general purpose jib the boat settled easily into a groove with minimal weather helm. The boat proved to be stiff and needed only the traveller to be eased to stay on its feet, even in the stronger gusts.

Downwind with the 100m2 kite in flat water we were nudging an indicated nine knots of boat speed, at true wind angles of 160-165 degrees. The boat felt very docile, even though the wind was building at this stage. When we luffed up to a true wind angle of 140 degrees, as the wind touched 24 knots, the boat speed leapt into the lower teens and had there been more of a sea state it’s clear we would have enjoyed some exhilarating sustained surfs at higher speeds.

For those preferring a very docile ride, reaching at this angle with just mainsail and jib would give speeds of 8 knots or more – perfect for fast yet easy passage making. For more power that’s easy to handle the North Helix furling Code 0 proved to be a very versatile sail.

J/99 u nder power

A combination of low freeboard, an efficient keel shape and big rudder make this a very predictable boat to handle in tight spaces. There’s minimal prop kick in reverse and manoeuvring astern holds no particular surprises or challenges.

J/99 v erdict

The J/99 enters an increasingly crowded market place and stands out among many for being optimised for a single rudder. In many respects it’s a Contessa 32 for the 21st century – a thoroughbred design that offers more space, a drier ride and more performance that reflects the ongoing advances in yacht design. Yet it still offers the ability to ride out a proper gale at sea.

This is not a bargain basement boat – there are many craft with larger interiors that can be bought for the same money, but they’re nothing like as much fun, or as rewarding to sail. It’s easy to see where the extra money goes to create a boat like this – it’s akin to making the difference between a carefully engineered sports saloon and a lumbering people carrier.

Specifications LOA 9.94m LWL 8.72m Beam 3.40m Draught 1.99m Displacement 3,800kg Upwind sail area 53m2 Asymmetric spinnaker 101m2 Symmetric spinnaker 90m2

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J-Boats J/45 review

• Theo Stocker
• October 12, 2023

With a serious racing pedigree and reputation for fast, easily driven boats, would J-Boats’ foray into cruising be successful? Theo Stocker sails the J/45 to find out

Product Overview

Price as reviewed:.

Moving water is hard work. A big, foaming wake might look impressive, but it’s not fast. Glide through the water with as little disturbance as possible, however, and the chance are it’ll be a quick boat. Sleek and slippery hulls are something that J-Boats does very well and it has done so again with the J/45.

The US-based and (mostly) French-built J-Boats has a phenomenal reputation for racing boats that are amazingly fun to sail, fast and extremely competitive on the race course, both under IRC and in one of their many one-design fleets. Nor are they extreme boats. More than capable of taking a family cruising, they are also easy to sail, to at least 90 per cent of their potential, without breaking a sweat, although accommodation has always tended towards the more spartan end of the spectrum.

Alan Johnstone (the company is still owned by its founding family) draws boats that are instantly recognisable: low freeboard subtly elegant sheerlines, modest beam, retractable bowsprits sporting large asymmetric spinnakers, and super-clean lines that pay little notice to the latest fad if it’s not fast. It is also a sector of the market where there aren’t too many brands stealing their wind – an enviable position to be in.

Having spotted a shift in the breeze, however, the company has put in a tack to pursue a more cruising-orientated boat with more emphasis on comfort than all-out speed, though the J/45 should still hold its own around the cans if you so wish. J-Boats are keen to prove their cruising credentials, knowing their performance record needs no burnishing.

The cockpit is less beamy than other modern boats, making it feel more secure. Photo: Richard Langdon

‘Family cruising has always been in the J-Boats DNA,’ explained Frederic Bouvier, J-Composites commercial manager, as we motored out of UK dealer, Key Yachting’s base on the Hamble River. ‘Ever since the first J24 was built by the Johnstone family, the aim has been to make the boats easy to sail.’

The question was whether the largest J-Boats for 15 years still carries those traits. The weather couldn’t have been kinder to us as we set off in the middle of the longest spell of strong easterlies and sunshine any of us could remember.

The weather didn’t seem to change for months (though we paid for it later), and for those on the South Coast, the result was weeks of gloriously bright and breezy sailing, even if the wind coming off the land was fiendishly shifty. On the day of our test sail we had between 5 and 20 knots of breeze true, and the gusts shifted through 30º.

So it was that I found myself at the helm, concentrating intensely on the tell tales, settling into a groove. As with stepping aboard any new boat for the first time, it takes a moment to get dialled in – halyard tension, adjusted with the powered coachroof winch to port, kicker and backstay tension, both controlled from the hydraulic unit just ahead of the main.

If you’ve not sailed with hydraulic systems before it can be disconcerting, but I found it powerful and precise, if a little awkward to read the pressure dial so low down.

Side decks are wide and clear, and sail controls are well-placed and have enough power. Photo: Richard Langdon

Properly seaworthy

Like other boats of this ilk, J-Boats have stuck with a single rudder, and on this boat it’s nearly 2m deep, only just short of the keel’s 2.32m draught. Tucked well forward of the stern, and thanks to the narrow waterline aft, you’ll be hard pressed to get the blade to let go. The advantage of a single rudder is improved feel on the helm; I had a real sense of the boat telling me when it was balanced and happy.

Even under Code Zero, things remained so well balanced that the boat sailed straight without a hand on the helm. Some boats mask an unbalanced sailplan or hull shape with rudders that give plenty of grip but little feedback. The J45 didn’t need to hide anything to be light and responsive on the wheel.

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Thanks to the two wheels being close together, I could move between high side and low side easily, with comfortable positions at either – a lifting footchock to brace against either standing or seated, and a raised seat on the side deck to keep your backside dry.

The winch for the German mainsheet is within easy reach, as is the traveller, while leaving space to sit forward of or astride the wheel. The traveller runs on a full-width, track, which is raised rather than recessed to avoid it collecting water, salt and dirt and to prevent rope jams between car and recess.

Lift-up foot chocks make for steady footing at the helm, standing or seated. Photo: Richard Langdon

The only niggle was that the instruments on the pedastals are only visible if you’re standing, so you’re more reliant on being able to see the coachroof instruments – B&G Nemesis displays in this instance.

The next thing you notice about the cockpit, and the layout on deck, is how clean it looks. That’s partly a function of the white GRP and pale grey deck grip. This boat also came with ‘faded teak’ synthetic teak on the cockpit sole and seats with pale grey caulking – all very stylish and unobtrusive with a minimum of fuss.

Relatively low coamings and a low coachroof don’t detract from the cockpit feeling secure, thanks to the ergonomics being just right. Far from being impractically minimalist, the J/45 has seaworthiness at the core.

The windlass is kept below a small lid without direct access to the chain. Photo: Richard Langdon

The cockpit is narrower than many modern cockpits and with a folding table atop a chunky moulded foot brace on the cockpit sole, it all felt very secure. Remove the table with eight bolts, the nuts for which are encapsulated in the deck to eliminate the chance of any leaks.

Little touches, like stainless handrails, the deep stowage bins in the table, a large sprayhood with removable sides and the rope bin below the cockpit sole at the companionway, all contribute to the boat’s cruising seaworthiness.

A large forepeak also gives access to the anchor chain. Photo: Richard Langdon

Lines are led aft on the coachroof below a single access panel, and the mainsheet is led to the helm under the side decks. Winches were powerful 50ST Performa winches from Harken recessed into the coamings; the port coachroof winch and starboard mainsheet winch were optionally powered on this boat.

The rest of the deck gear is extremely well-specced too – Harken throughout, with towable jib cars, MkIV furler (a flatdeck furler is an option), and jib sheet inhaulers to play with the sheeting angle. Of course, with this level of finesse, you’re going to be looking at laminate sails as Dacron will deform too quickly. The test boat came with FibrePath Enduro sails from Ullman Sails – the grey colour is just UV-protective ‘light skins’ over the laminated Technora structure.

Laminate sails, such as these FibrePath Enduro sails from Ullman, utilise the boat’s pointing ability and rig controls. Photo: Richard Langdon

J/45 on the wind

The wildly oscillating conditions made it tricky to settle into a steady beat, but there is no doubt the J/45 is close-winded and the stronger the wind, the closer you can get away with. In a Force 4, we made 7 knots upwind at 28º-32º to the apparent, 8 knots across the wind, and up to 10 knots in the gusts with the Code Zero set. Racing sailors will be able to find more speed than that I’m sure, and she’ll keep moving at respectable speeds in as little as 5 knots of breeze.

Importantly, none of it felt flustered, and with heel of around 20º-25º – less than I expected for such a slender boat – life on board remained extremely comfortable onboard, largely thanks to her 40% ballast ratio and lightweight carbon mast. Under engine, the 75hp Volvo Penta (60hp is standard) pushed us along easily at 7 knots at 2,000rpm and 7.7knots at 2,200rpm in flat water.

Inhaulers and towable jib cars give maximum control over headsail shape, though a self-tacking jib is an option. Photo: Richard Langdon

Going forward, side decks are wide and clear, with chainplates right outboard atop the moulded toe rails. Chunky mooring cleats push down to remove snagging hazards under sail, and there’s a moulding forward of the mast for the optional self-tacking jib.

Space up forward has been well used in the fine bow, with the furler set off the stem rather than below deck, to maximise the foretriangle. Unusually for a J-Boat, the bow sprit is fixed rather than retractable, and a bob stay supports high-luff tensions. The only deck fittings I’d add would be midships tweakers to adjust the sheeting angles for offwind sails.

It’s encouraging to see a few more builders considering heavy weather with the inclusion of removable inner stays. Rather than a stay, however, the J/45 allows a staysail or storm jib with a high-tension luff cable to be set on a furler via a halyard lock on the mast and purchase and jammer on the deck, with tension provided by a line led back to the cockpit winches, a racing innovation that eliminates halyard stretch.

The boat slips to windward with a minimum of fuss. Photo: Richard Langdon

The anchor locker is a good size, and though the lid is small, a water-tight hatch in the bulkhead from the large forepeak gives good access to the chain. Fenders can be stowed in the lazarette between the helms, where there’s also access to the Goiot steering quadrant.

Stowage elsewhere include a sole-depth locker under the starboard seat and liferaft stowage to port – the whole bench lifts so there is no lip to lift a heavy raft over. The gas locker is a cruiser’s dream, with enough space for at least two decent-sized gas bottles, and enough room for spares.

The saloon has a large galley, chart table, and C-shaped seating. Photo: Richard Langdon

Clean design

The same clean, simple aesthetic continues below on the J/45, with white bulkheads and hullsides staying true to the J-Boat look, while remaining highly practical.

Companionway steps are bevelled and covered with grip coating; leather-sheathed handholds either side lead you on to a stainless rail all the way round the end of the galley unit, on to the chart table fiddle; recessed grab rails in the deckhead; and a full-height steel bar on the aft side of the keel-stepped mast. There are no wide open spaces or sharp corners to fall across and into.

Ample stowage, light and ventilation make for a practical and seaworthy saloon. Photo: Richard Langdon

All of this, along with the inclusion of a full-size, forward facing chart table – with stowage for books and other kit in shelves and drawers below and outboard of the table – as well as properly screwed-down sole boards, suggests that this is a proper sea boat.

The biggest nod this boats gives to current trends is the inclusion of four pairs of hull windows, a rarity for J-Boats – two in the saloon each side, and one each side in the forward and aft cabins.

On the three cabin version we tested, the heads, aft of the chart table, is small but functional, though with no wet locker. Opt for the two-cabin version, and the heads starts 20cm further aft, allowing the starboard saloon settee to grow from 180cm to 200cm. A larger heads and shower compartment replaces the aft cabin, and provides access to a vast cockpit locker stowage space.

Stowage abounds in the spacious and forward owner’s cabin, even if you opt for the ensuite heads rather than a second wardrone. Water tanks are under the berth to balance out the weight of cruising kit and crew aft. Photo: Richard Langdon

To port of the companionway, the whopping J-shaped galley the size of landlubber’ kitchen includes neat touches like a circular bin lid in the worksurface, a cavernous top-opening fridge with freezer compartment as well as a separate front-opening drinks fridge, drawers, under sink stowage and a large sink, though I’d want a double sink to give crockery somewhere to drain.

A three-burner gas stove, plus a microwave fitted in the overhead lockers, gives a few cooking options, and you can even run your espresso maker off the inverter. There’s stowage in sliding lockers behind the stove, and in the bottom-hinged overhead lockers, though the kitchen cupboard-style hinges take up a bit too much space.

Face forward at the full-size chart table, whether you’re navigating or just doing emails. Photo: Richard Langdon

Below the C-shaped saloon seats is all stowage, other than the batteries at the aft end of the starboard settee. That’s at least partly thanks to the use of narrow-diameter water heating rather than air central heating with its large ducts.

My only misgiving about the saloon was that the table didn’t extend to the starboard settee, limiting table seating to four, or six at a squeeze. The hull windows give great fish-spotting opportunities when sailing, but are slightly too low for eye level when seated to see the horizon, which is a shame. Look at them from the outside, however, and you’ll notice they’re parallel to the waterline rather than the sheerline – a fact that reveals a good amount of sheer – which is one of the reasons this boat looks so attractive, and how 6ft 4in of headroom has been squeezed in throughout.

Narrower beam aft makes itself apparent in the slightly narrower aft cabins. Photo: Richard Langdon

The other reason for all this space is that the water tanks (two 200-litre stainless tanks) are under the forward berth on the J/45. An odd choice for a performance cruiser, as you’d normally want to concentrate the weight low down and as close to midships as possible, but this is to balance out the cruising clobber and bodies aft, ensuring the transom doesn’t drag and the boat doesn’t slow down even in cruising trim.

Home comforts

For a boat with such a racing heritage, the owners’ cabin forward is more comfortable and practical than many pure cruisers – upright, overhead and bin lockers on both sides as well as full-length shelves above the very smart dark tan trim, into which the hull windows are set. The peninsula double bed is 206cm long, 170cm at its widest and 140cm wide at head and foot ends.

The ensuite heads is more generous than the aft heads (in the three-cabin layout) and includes a separate shower cubicle and toilet.

Separate shower and toilet spaces in the forward heads is bigger than the aft heads. Photo: Richard Langdon

One of the only clues to this boat’s slender beam below decks is in the aft cabins, where the berths are a good 198cm long, 147cm wide at the head end but just 110cm at the foot end – narrower than many these days, but still plenty comfortable for two.

Finish throughout is neat and well executed, with very few rough edges. Only in the aft cabins did the foam-backed headlining look a little less immaculate than in the rest of the boat.

Structurally, this is a stiff boat. Both deck and hull are vacuum infused vinyester resin over a divinycell core (as is the bathing platform, to save weight), with solid laminate in loaded areas. The keel matrix is made in the same way, before being bonded into the hull and overlaminated along all joins, with electrical ducting built into the grid to save weight. All bulkheads are also vacuum infused, laminated into hull and deck and then veneered. The keel is cast iron with a lead bulb, secured with over-sized stainless bolts and backing plates.

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It would be easy for a cruising boat from a racing stable to fall between two stools, but the J45 does not disappoint. This is one of the most effortlessly enjoyable boats I’ve ever sailed. The modest displacement, stiff hull, generous ballast and decent spread of canvas put her near the top of the performance cruiser sector, though she’s a tonne or so heavier than some competitors. Her trump card is the superbly slippery hull and narrow beam that allow this boat to slip to windward with a minimum of fuss, and to keep on going through the wind range. This is a boat that will make you look like a better sailor than your are – that’s a compliment to the boat rather than an insult to you. The design on deck and below has been refined from decades of experience at J-Boats, and from what I could see on our test, this is an eminently practical and seaworthy cruiser, and while I didn’t get to test her in a big chop I suspect her fine entry would make light work of waves, though may be wetter than some. Stowage, safety, security and sail handling on deck was all extremely well thought through (including life-raft and gas stowage), and neat solutions like the inner forestay show an acceptance that cruising isn’t always warm breezes and sunbathing.

• Yachting World
• Digital Edition

J Class: the enduring appeal of the world’s most majestic yachts

• October 9, 2023

Only ten J Class yachts were built before the Second World War stopped the movement in its tracks, but in the last 20 years these magnificent sloops have made an incredible comeback. Why has the J Class remained irresistable? David Glenn explains.

One of the most awe-inspiring sights in modern yachting is the Spirit of Tradition fleet blasting off the start line at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. It happens every year at the end of April. Chances are it will include at least two J Class yachts, hitting the line on the gun at full tilt, exploding through the cobalt blue Caribbean rollers at anything up to 12 knots as they charge upwind.

Watching Velsheda , Ranger , Shamrock V and Endeavour will bring a lump to your throat, such is the emotion generated by these beautifully proportioned 130ft racing machines with their carbon rigs driving 170 tonnes of steel, aluminium and teak towards the weather mark. It’s heady stuff.

Watching them is one thing; racing quite another matter. In 1999 I was aboard the rebuilt Velsheda , taking part in the Antigua Classic Regatta. I had a single task as part of a four-man team – to tend the forward starboard runner. Nothing else. “Let that go once we’ve tacked and the whole rig comes down,” warned skipper Simon Bolt, as another wall of water thundered down the leeward deck and tried to rip me from the winch.

Dressed in authentic off-white, one-piece cotton boiler-suits, which had to be worn with a stout belt “so there’s something to grab if you go overboard”, they were tough, adrenaline-filled days out. God knows what it was like up forward as massive spinnakers were peeled and headsails weighing a quarter of a tonne were wrestled to the  needle-sharp foredeck as the bow buried itself into the back of yet another wave. Sometimes you daren’t look.

But with the race won or lost, back on the dock the feeling of elation, fuelled by being part of the 36-strong crew aboard one of these extraordinary yachts, triggered a high like no other. You knew you were playing a role, no matter how small, in a legendary story that began in 1930, was halted by World War II and then defied the pundits by opening another chapter 20 years ago. Today with five Js in commission, all in racing trim, and at least two more new examples about to be launched, the J Class phenomenon is back.

Why is the J Class so popular?

Why does a yacht with an arguably unexciting performance – they go upwind at 12 knots and downwind at 12 knots – costing £20 million to build and demanding eye-watering running costs, seem to be burgeoning during the worst recession since the class was born?

There is no single answer, but you only have to look back to the 1930s and the characters that owned and raced the Js on both sides of the Atlantic, sometimes for the America’s Cup , to understand why the class occupies a special place in yachting history. Underlying everything is the look of the J Class. It seems to transcend any change in yachting vogue, displaying a timeless line with outrageous overhangs and a proportion of hull to rig that is hard to better.

They possess true elegance. There is no doubt that captains of industry who want to flex their sporting muscle have been drawn to a class which only the very rich can afford and there are distinct parallels between J owners in the 1930s and those of the past 20 years. The difference is that in the 1930s owners liked to shout about their achievements and hogged the pages of national newspapers. Today, they are as quiet as mice.

Origins of the J Class

The J Class emerged in 1930 and marked a quantum leap in yachting technology, but comprised a hotchpotch of design altered over many years.

The J Class – so named because it was the letter allocated to its particular size by the Universal Rule to which the yachts were built (K and M Class yachts were, for example, shorter on the waterline) – emerged in 1930 and marked a quantum leap in yachting technology.

The so-called Big Class, which flourished in the UK in the 1920s, was impressive, but comprised a hotchpotch of design altered over many years. Yachts like King George V’s Britannia , built in 1893 as a gaff-rigged cutter but converted in the 1920s to Bermudan rig to rate as a J, Candida , Cambria , White Heather and schooners like Westward were even larger and more expensive to run. But as the greater efficiency of the Marconi or Bermudan rig became apparent their days were numbered.

One catalyst for the J Class itself was legendary grocer Sir Thomas Lipton’s final crack at challenging for the America’s Cup in 1931. He did so under the Universal Rule with the composite, wooden-planked, Charles E. Nicholson-design Shamrock V .

It was the 14th challenge since 1851 and the Americans, despite the withering effects of the Great Depression, reacted in dramatic fashion, organising their defence with four syndicates, each bulging with millionaires, putting forward separate Js: Enterprise , Whirlwind , Weetamoe and Yankee , which apart from Enterprise had already been launched.

Key to the American effort was the remarkable Harold Vanderbilt of the New York Yacht Club, who had inherited fabulous wealth from the family’s railroad companies, making him one of the country’s richest men.

Brought up on the family’s Idle Hour estate on Long Island Sound, he was a keen and accomplished sailor, and he used American technology and teamwork to build a far superior J in Enterprise. The defence completely overwhelmed Lipton’s effort. The British press castigated Lipton’s lack of preparedness and old-fashioned attitude. Vanderbilt, who among other things is credited with inventing contract bridge, left no stone unturned. “Mr. Harold Vanderbilt does not exactly go boat-sailing because summer is the closed season for fox-hunting,” stated an acerbic critic in the British yachting press.

Later when Shamrock was owned by aircraft builder Sir Richard Fairey and was being used to train crew for another Cup challenge, Beecher Moore, a skilful dinghy sailor who was draughted aboard the J to try to sort her out, reported in Yachts and Yachting many years later: “We found that when we got on board it was very much like a well-run country house, in that the gentleman does not go into the kitchen and on a well-run J Class the owner does not go forward of the mast.”

J Class tactics: Britain vs USA

A look at the huge gap between the British and American J Class tactics and designs in the early years of the America’s Cup.

In the early days there was a yawning gap between the way the Americans and British approached the Cup and, for that matter, how they ran a yacht. Revolutionary metal masts, Park Avenue booms to improve sail shape (the British copied this American design with their ‘North Circular’ version), bronze hulls that needed no painting, superior sails, and campaigns that cost £100,000 even in those days, blew away the Brits. Lipton had spent just £30,000 to build and equip Shamrock .

In the second Cup challenge in Js, in 1934, Sir T. O. M. Sopwith’s first Endeavour , also designed by Nicholson and equipped with wind instruments designed by her aircraft industrialist owner, nearly won the Cup, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory after leading the series 0-2. Sopwith was also up against Vanderbilt, who this time sailed Rainbow , which many considered to be the slower boat. But the British campaign was hobbled by a pay dispute – Endeavour ’s crew got £5 a week but they wanted a raise for ‘going foreign’ – and the campaign approach was again brought into question when the first thing to be stripped off the yacht when they won a dispute over reducing weight was the bath!

Back in Britain, the 1935 season proved to be the zenith of J Class and Big Class racing, although by the end of it the Js were under the cosh for their tendency to lose masts. Five went over the side that year and Endeavour II , launched with en eye on the next Cup challenge, lost hers twice.

There was added spice in the competition off the shores of the UK with the arrival of the American J Yankee , now owned by millionaire and Listerine businessman Gerard Lambert, who enjoyed sparring with the Brits. But even Yankee lost her mast and the press rounded on the class for being dangerous and wasteful! That wasn’t enough to stop Sopwith, whose tail had been extracted from between his legs following the last defeat in Newport: Endeavour II was towed across the Atlantic in a veritable armada that included  the first Endeavour. The British yachts found themselves up against the most advanced sailing machine the world had ever seen – Ranger , dubbed ‘the Super J’.

Vanderbilt was the man to beat again. Not only had he bankrolled the entire defence as American business remained beset by a struggling economy, but he used highly scientific means to perfect design. The brilliant naval architect Starling Burgess, who had designed for Vanderbilt throughout the 1930s, was now aided by the equally brilliant but considerably more youthful Olin Stephens. Between them they finally selected ‘model 77-C’ from six tank tested.

The yacht was considered ugly by some and not a natural to look at, but Vanderbilt’s team trusted the science (still the difference between the Americans and the Brits) and Ranger with her bluff or barrel bow and ‘low slung’ counter was the result. She proved to be dynamite on the race course and Endeavour II didn’t stand a chance. She was beaten in five straight races by large margins. The Americans and Vanderbilt had done it again. War then brought an end to an extraordinary era in yachting.

Only ten J Class yachts were built to the Universal rule and not a single American yacht survived. Most were scrapped for the war effort. In any case, the American way was to discard the machine once it has served its purpose. In Britain they faired a little better, and some Js were mud-berthed on the East and South Coasts. Two survived in the UK: Velsheda , originally built by the businessman who ran Woolworths in the UK (W. L. Stevenson named her after his daughters Velma, Sheila and Daphne), but which never challenged for the America’s Cup; and Endeavour , saved by becoming a houseboat on the Hamble. Shamrock ended up in Italy and survived the war hidden in a hay barn.

J Class resurgence

Seemingly resigned to the history books, the J Class made a triumphant return in the 1980s.

In his seminal book about the J Class, Enterprise to Endeavour, yachting historian Ian Dear predicted in the first edition in 1977 that the likes of the Js would never be seen again. By the time the fourth edition was published in 1999 he was quite happily eating his words!

The American Elizabeth Meyer was, without doubt, instrumental in bringing the class back to life when in the 1980s she extracted what was left of Endeavour from a  amble mud-berth, began rebuilding her in Calshot, and then moved her to Royal Huisman in Holland, who completed the restoration superbly. With the transom of the original Ranger mounted on a bulkhead in her saloon, Endeavour is still regarded as one of the best-looking and potentially fastest Js.

She was owned briefly by Dennis Kozlowski, the disgraced tycoon who ran Tyco, who famously said: “No one really owns Endeavour, she’s part of yachting history. I’m delighted to be the current caretaker.” Unfortunately he ended up in prison and the State of New York became Endeavour’s ‘caretaker’ before they sold her to her current owner, who has kept the yacht in the Pacific. She’s currently being refitted in New Zealand.

Ronald de Waal is a Dutchman who until recently was chairman of the Saks Group in the USA and has made a fortune in clothing. He has dedicated a lot of time to improving Velsheda over the years since he had her rebuilt by Southampton Yacht Services to a reconfigured design by Dutch naval architect Gerry Dykstra. Ronald de Waal steers the yacht himself to great effect and has had some legendary tussles with Ranger, the new Super J built in Denmark for American realestate magnate John Williams.

The rivalry between the two is fierce and even led to a collision between the yachts in Antigua last year. But Velsheda would have been lost had it not been for British scrap-metal merchant Terry Brabant who saved her from a muddy grave on  the Hamble and famously sold his Rolls-Royce to cast a new lead keel for the yacht. With very little modern equipment he sailed her hard in the Solent, chartering her and crossing the Atlantic for a Caribbean season, all without an engine! Without Brabant’s initiative Ronald de Waal wouldn’t have what he has today.

Shamrock V is owned by a Brazilian telecommunications businessman Marcos de Moraes who had the yacht rebuilt at Pendennis Shipyard in Falmouth in 2001. He tends to keep away from the race course but with a number of events being planned in the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics he might be tempted back. The latest new J to launch, Hanuman, a modern interpretation of Endeavour II, has recently entered the racing fray. She was commissioned by serial yacht owner Jim Clark (Hyperion and Athena), the American who brought us Netscape and Silicon Graphics, and who remains a colossus in Silicon Valley.

Hanuman, named after a Hindu deity, built by Royal Huisman and designed by Gerry Dykstra, has had no expense spared when it comes to rig and sail wardrobe. Last year she beat Ranger in the Newport Bucket but in March this year she lost out 2-1 to the same boat at the St Barths Bucket. They were due to meet again with Velsheda at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta in April. Another Dutchman, property developer Chris Gongriep, who has owned a number of yachts including Sapphire and Windrose of Amsterdam, has given the go-ahead for a new  version of Rainbow, which is well advanced in Holland at Freddie Bloesma’s aluminium hull fabrication yard. The yacht, reconfigured by Gerry Dykstra, will be in the water in 2011 with a full-on race programme.

About to be launched is Lionheart, the biggest J so far, redesigned by Andre Hoek and built in Holland by Claasen Jachtbouw, after an extensive research programme.  Unfortunately, her owner’s business commitments mean that he won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of this project – she’s for sale with Yachting Partners International and Hoek Brokerage. What an opportunity to join a class with such a remarkable history and one which looks destined to run and run!

First published on SuperYachtWorld.com on Aug 4, 2010

The J Class has its roots in the oldest international yacht race in the world, the America’s Cup.

Our Heritage

Considered some of the most beautiful yachts ever built, the story of the J Class is defined by fierce transatlantic competition for the America’s Cup, followed by an era of steep decline, and the modern-day revival.

The J Class includes a mixture of refitted surviving yachts along with a number of new yachts faithfully built to original hull lines from 1930’s designs, with more yachts currently in build.

The J Class Association was founded in 2000 to protect the interests of the Class, present and future, and organises an annual calendar of racing for these magnificent yachts.

2024 Calendar

The Superyacht Cup Palma

Palma, Spain

8 - 14 September

Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

Puerto Cervo, Sardinia

5-11 October

America's Cup J Class Regatta

Barcelona, Spain

We love them because they are sublimely beautiful, utterly impractical and fiendishly demanding.

Elizabeth Meyer

Modern-day saviour of the J Class

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