sailboat j 24

International Class Association

J/24: World’s Most Popular One-Design Keelboat  

Whether your style is weeknight beer-can racing or competing on the world stage – the J/24 is undeniably the most popular racing keelboat to make waves around the world.  This appealing keelboat started with one man’s desire for a sailboat to accommodate his family and to be a competitive racer. 

Twenty-seven years later, the J/24 has become a legend.  A stable sailboat for family togetherness, the J/24 has also been the competitive launch pad for the careers of numerous America’s Cup professionals.   The world-wide acceptance of J/24 design, the strong one-design rules and the strength of the International J/24 Class Association have led to the J/24 to be selected as the platform for the  International Sailing Federation’s (ISAF) Nation’s Cup, the ISAF Women’s World Match Racing Championship, the Rolex Women’s International Keelboat Championship and US Sailing’s St. Francis International Masters Championship (aged 55+).   

While some of the world’s best sailors have the latest version J/24, a well-prepared 1977 model, built to the same shape and weight with rigid end-grained balsa core construction can still win the J/24 Class world championship even after 30,000+ miles of trailering. That’s “One Design” racing! The International J/24 is presently built in the U.S., Argentina and Italy and has more than 50,000 people sailing over 5,400 boats in 27 countries.

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• Sailboat Reviews

The right boat at the right time, the J/24 has proven to be a wildly successful one-design racer.

The J/24 is one of those boats that happened along at just the right time, with the right marketing to a ready market. Some may wonder whether the tale of her success would make a better textbook or a better storybook. Either way, much of the marine industry has studied her story, and then flattered her with the praise of emulation. However, no imitation or variation of the J/24 has yet to achieve her popularity.

Since her humble beginnings in 1976 in the garage of an amateur designer, thousands of boats have been sold from factories in Rhode Island, California, Australia, Japan, Italy, England, France, Brazil and Argentina. All of the builders are licensed by a company called J-Boats to build the J/24 to strict one-design tolerances. J-Boats is owned and run by two brothers—Bob and Rod Johnstone (the J in J-Boats).

Bob is the marketing whiz and Rod is the designer. Conservative estimates put their total revenue from the J/24, after buying the boats from the builders and selling them to the dealers, at several million dollars. Not bad considering how it all began….

Ragtime was a 24′ inspiration evolved by Rod Johnstone and his family in their garage as a two-year weekend project. Rod was a salesman for a marine publication, and an avid racer with a successful background in high-performance one designs. He had undertaken, but never completed, the Westlawn home-study course in naval architecture (although he has since been awarded an honorary degree so the school could use his name in its advertisements). Ragtime was launched in 1976, and was an instant winner, taking 17 firsts in 19 starts in eastern Connecticut. People began asking for their own boats.

At this time, brother Bob, also a respected racer, was working in the marketing department of AMF Alcort (Sunfish, Paceship, etc.). When Alcort declined to produce the J/24, Bob quit and formed JBoats. Tillotson-Pearson, builder of the Etchells 22 and the Freedom line of boats, was more receptive and production began in 1977. The first J/24s were as fast as Ragtime , and dominated regattas like the 1977 MORC Internationals. Bob made sure that the favorable results were well publicized; more than 200 boats were sold that year, and nearly 1,000 the next.

It was a big hit for a number of reasons. She moved into a void, appealing to two groups of sailors who were ripe for her type of racing: those who had outgrown athletic small boats, yet still yearned for the competition of one-design racing, and those who wished to compete without the expense, hassles and uncertainties of handicap racing.

The J/24 is a one design’s one design. Like the Laser, Windsurfer, and Hobie Cat, she is proprietary-built under the supervision of one company. Unlike most proprietary one designs, sails are not provided by the J/24’s builder. This was a particularly astute move by the Johnstones as it involved sailmakers in the class. Sailmakers comprise many of the big names in racing; by getting them in the regatta results, the Johnstones added instant credibility to the J/24’s budding status as a “hot” class. By the midwinter championship in 1979, almost every boat in the top 15 finishers had a sailmaker on board.

The big advantage that proprietary one designs have over “independent” one designs (classes with competing builders) is the power of centralized, bigbucks promotion. J-Boats has organized and promoted regattas, and had a heavy hand in running the class association. J/24s got a lot of press, thanks to JBoats. Full color, multi-page advertisements appeared monthly in the slick sailing magazines. Promotion has been primary; money is no object. J/24s have been donated for several high visibility USYRU championships. Big discounts have been given for fleet purchases (sometimes to effectively crush interest in competing one designs).

With the help of British enthusiasts, the Johnstones were able to make the J/24 an IYRU (International Yacht Racing Union) recognized class. More international lobbying got the J/24 into the Pan American Games.

There are some disadvantages to proprietary one designs. First, the class is in a real bind if the builder goes bankrupt. Likewise if the builder should ever abuse his power by ignoring class administration or changing construction of the boat to suit economic demands. Although a proprietary builder faces competition from other types of boats, there is no competition building his boat. This can inflate the price, especially when there are three substantial markups in the pricing structure (builder, J-Boats, and the dealer).

Construction

The J/24 has the distinct advantage of having been produced in great numbers and been subjected to the rigors of hard racing. It’s safe to say that nearly everything that could have broken, has broken, and that the J/24 is now almost bulletproof. J-Boats has done a commendable job in correcting nearly all of the “bugs” in the J/24. However, if you are planning to purchase a boat several years old you should be watchful for some of the old bugs.

Boats built during the first two years of production had particular problems with leaking along the hull-to-deck joint, delamination of the main bulkhead, and the attachment of the keel to the hull. The hull-to-deck leak was due to failure of the silicone sealant in the joint.

The inward-turning hull flange is overlapped by the deck, which is bedded in sealant and through-bolted at close intervals through a teak toe rail. Now this joint is bedded with 3M 5200, a pliable strong adhesive, and leaks are infrequent. Fortunately, the internal side of the joint is exposed throughout the boat’s interior, so recaulking is not difficult.

Harder to rectify is the problem of delamination of the main bulkhead. J/24s are raced hard, often with substantial rig tension. The chainplates pierce the deck and are bolted to the main bulkhead. The plywood bulkhead is tabbed with fiberglass to the hull and deck. The mast is stepped through the deck and sits on an aluminum beam, which is also tabbed to the main bulkhead. Rig tension pulls upward on the bulkhead while mast compression pushes downward on the beam, resulting in tremendous shearing forces on the bulkhead and its tabbing.

On some of the older J/24s, the plywood has delaminated, letting the mast “sink” 1/4 inch or more. Owners of these boats have either returned them to the factory for replacement of the bulkhead, or ground off the delamination and reglassed the bulkhead themselves. The builder now uses a better grade of plywood and installs screws to reinforce the bulkhead tabbing. As an added precaution, the boat owner may wish to bolt the mast-bearing beam to the bulkhead with an angle-iron.

The third problem with some of the older J/24s is the keel-to-hull attachment. The builder used to fill the keel sump with a vermiculite mixture of resin and plant fiber. The keel bolts were fastened through the vermiculite which, when saturated with water, is less rigid than solid laminations of fiberglass. After several years of sailing, or a hard grounding, the keel bolts would begin to work, and the keel would loosen enough to be able to be wobbled by hand with the boat suspended from a hoist. The first sign of this problem is the appearance of a crack along the keel stub. Tightening of the keel bolts, which are quality stainless steel, is a simple but temporary fix. What is needed is a backing plate for the bolts, bedded on top of the vermiculite.

There was a variety of other problems with early J/24s: The mast has three internal halyards; two jib halyards exit below the headstay with the spinnaker halyard above. On the older boats, a large square hole was cut in the mast to accommodate the sheaves, leaving an open, poorly supported space adjacent to the spinnaker sheave. This is sometimes the source of mast cracks; the fix is to weld a plate over it.

In January of 1980, the J/24 got much-improved companionway and forward hatches. The hatches on older boats were molded of thin fiberglass, and had a tendency to leak and fracture under the weight of heavy crew members. The new forward hatches are lexan, and the companionway hatch is now much heavier with a lower profile.

The J/24’s rudder is heavy and strong. The builder claims you can hang a 900 pound keel from the rudder tip without breaking it. Although the J/24’s rudder pintles appear more than adequate, after several years of use they have been known to develop corrosion cracks where the pintle is welded to its strap. In 1981, the builder began equipping J/24s with weldless pintles; the builder also offers the new system as a replacement for old boats.

The starboard chainplate bolts through both the bulkhead and the hull liner. The port chainplate bolts through only the bulkhead. After the first two years of production, the port bulkhead was reinforced with fiberglass in the chainplate area. On earlier boats, a backing plate should be added to prevent the chainplate bolts from elongating their holes.

The hull and deck of the J/24 are cored with balsa, which makes them stiff, light, quiet and relatively condensation-free. We have heard of occasional delaminations resulting from trailering with improperly adjusted poppets. The Kenyon mast section is the same as that used on the Etchells 22, a bigger boat. It is more than adequate for any strength of wind.

The J/24 does not have positive flotation, and she has been known to capsize in severe conditions. This is usually not a problem as she floats on her side with the companionway well out of the water. However, should the leeward cockpit locker fall open, water can rush below, filling the cabin and causing her to sink. While fastening the lockers in heavy weather prevents the problem, the manufacturer began to seal off the lockers from the cabin with an additional bulkhead several years ago, as a safety measure.

Of the 2,500 J/24s sold in the US, nearly 2,000 of them have been built by Tillotson-Pearson in Rhode Island. The others were built by Performance Sailcraft in San Francisco, which is now defunct. New boats are now shipped cross country. Top west coast sailors tell us they favor the east coast built boats, claiming the keels and rudders on the west coast built boats are too thick to be competitive. The west coast keels are thick because they are covered with injection-molded gelcoat. Tillotson-Pearson fairs the keels with auto body putty.

Handling Under Sail

The J/24’s PHRF rating ranges from 165 to 174, depending on the handicapper. She rates as fast as or faster than a C&C 30, Santana 30, or Pearson 30. One must remember that, because the J/24 has attracted competent owners, her PHRF rating is probably somewhat inflated. While the J/24 is an excellent training boat because she is so responsive, a beginning racer may have an especially hard time making her perform to her PHRF rating.

Aside from her speed, the J/24’s greatest asset is her maneuverability. With her stern hung rudder she can be turned in her own length, sculled out to a mooring in light air, and brought to a screeching halt by jamming the rudder over 90 degrees.

The J/24 has a narrow “groove;” it takes a lot of concentration to keep her going at top speed. She is sensitive to backstay trim, sheet tension, weight placement and lower shroud tension. The lower shrouds act like running backstays, because they are anchored aft of the mast. They must be loosened in light air to create some headstay sag, and then tightened in heavy air to straighten the mast, making backstay tension more effective in removing the sag.

Sheet tension is also critical. Top crews rarely cleat the genoa sheets, having one crewmember hold the tail while hiking from the rail. Some of the best sailors even lead the jib to the weather winch so the sail can be trimmed without sending crew weight to leeward.

The class rules allow you to race with a mainsail, a 150% genoa, a working jib and a single spinnaker. This makes sail selection simple and the inventory affordable (about $2,600 total). However, the one genoa must carry the boat all the way from a flat calm up to 20 knots or more. To be competitive in light air, the genoa must be full; yet to hold the boat level with this full genoa in a strong breeze, you need a lot of crew weight. Most of the top crews are now sailing with five people on board for a total crew weight of 800 to 900 pounds. The J/24 is a small boat, and the additional fifth crew member really makes the boat cramped. Add to this the increasing trend of some skippers making the crew sit in the cabin on the leeward bunk in light air, and you have a boat which can be less than fun to crew on.

There are two worthwhile improvements that can help a J/24’s performance. To decrease the boat’s slight tendency toward a lee helm in light air, the mast should be cut to minimum length allowed in the class rules, and the headstay should be lengthened to the maximum allowed to give the mast more rake. The other improvement is fairing the keel to minimum dimensions. The keel is much thicker than is necessary for optimum performance. It comes relatively fair from the builder, but most owners will want to grind off the builder’s auto-body filler and sharpen the trailing edge. On some of the older boats, the trailing edge is twice the minimum thickness.

Some racers go so far as to spend $500-$1,000 to have the keel professionally faired.

While all indications are that the builder has excellent quality control, there have been complaints that some of the spars provided by Kenyon in the last two years have come with the wrong length shrouds, or widely differing bend characteristics. One top sailor said he would never buy a used J/24 without first making sure that he could make the mast stand straight sideways with substantial shroud tension.

The J/24 is best suited for racing; there are many boats in her size range that are far more comfortable and practical for daysaiIing. However, the J/24 is a joy to sail under mainsail alone. Unlike most boats, she balances and sails upwind at a respectable speed, and her maneuverability gives her tremendous freedom in crowded harbors.

Handling Under Power

The J/24 is powered by an outboard engine; an inboard is not feasible or available. Class rules require that an outboard with a minimum of 3.5 hp be carried while racing. Most owners opt for a 3.5-4 hp outboard. It provides adequate power and is as much weight as you want to be hefting over a transom. Although the cockpit locker is plenty big enough, most owners stow the outboard under a berth in the cabin to keep the weight out of the stern. This makes using the outboard inconvenient. The factory-supplied optional outboard bracket has a spring-loaded hinge to lift the engine for easy mounting; we recommend it. Because the outboard is likely to be stored in the cabin, a remote gas tank will keep fuel spillage and odor to a minimum.

Above Decks

The J/24 is very well laid out, yet she is still not a comfortable or easy boat to crew on. When she was first launched, sailors said her layout could be no better, and she was copied by manufacturers of competing boats. However, after years of racing, sailors have discovered several things that could be improved.

Cockpit winches are located just forward of the mainsheet traveler, which spans the middle of the cockpit. Many sailors have moved the winches forward, so the crewmember tacking the genoa can face forward instead of aft during a tack. It pays to check to see if relocated deck hardware was installed properly; one J/24 owner we know discovered that the previous owner had moved the winches, but hadn’t installed proper backing plates or filled the original holes correctly. As a result, seepage had occurred and several square feet of the balsa-cored deck above the quarterberth had become sodden and rotten.

The standard mainsheet cleat is attached to the traveler car so that, when you trim the sheet, you inadvertently pull the car to weather. Many sailors have solved this by mounting a fixed cleat with a swivel base at the center of the traveler bar.

On older boats the backstay was single-ended at the transom. Boats now come with a double-ended backstay led forward to the helmsman on each side of the cockpit. Foot blocks need to be mounted on the traveler to keep helmsmen from falling to leeward as the boat heels (you must steer from forward and well outboard of the traveler).

For those who plan to try cross-sheeting to the weather winch, leading the jib sheets through Harken ratchet blocks is advised. Most sailors will also want to mount barber haulers to pull the genoa sheet outboard in strong winds. Cam cleats for the barber haulers should be mounted on the companionway so they “self-cleat” when led to the weather winch.

Cabin-top winches for the halyards and spinnaker guys are optional and essential. Because the J/24 has single spinnaker sheets, most sailors mount “twings,” which pull the guy down to the deck outboard of the shrouds when reaching.

In the search for a cleaner deck, it is now common to mount the spinnaker halyard cleat on the mast. Most sailors use only one jib halyard. Although a second jib halyard is optional, it is necessary only for long distance handicap racing. On short one design courses it is better to struggle along overpowered than to place crew weight on the bow to change headsails. Instruments are also unnecessary in one design racing. There are more than enough boats on a one design race course to judge your speed without the help of a speedometer.

The J/24 comes equipped with a Headfoil II grooved headstay system, which works very smoothly. Early boats came with Stern Twinstays, which have occasionally failed when the bearings freeze up with age. Some sailors have exchanged the grooved headstay system for cloth snaps on their headsails (you seldom change sails anyway). We applaud this idea, as it makes the sails more manageable in severe weather.

Although the flat decks are well suited for racing, the cockpit is less than comfortable for daysailing. There are no seat backs and the boom is dangerously low. Visibility with the deck-sweeping 150% genoa is terrible, and is often the cause of nightmarish collisions on crowded race courses. Lower life lines are optional and recommended for those with children, but they interfere with fast tacks when racing. The boom is rigged with a 4-to-1 vang, which is swiveled on the more recent J/24s to be adjustable from either rail on a windy spinnaker reach. The boom is also rigged with reef lines which exit through stoppers at the gooseneck.

Top sailors have discovered that the boat always sails better without a reef, which is a good thing, because the stoppers are both difficult to operate and have a history of slipping.

The interior is simple and functional. On most boats it is used for little more than sail storage. However, for a couple who enjoys roughing it, it could make for occasional weekend cruising. The first thing you notic below is the lack of headroom. You can sit in comfort, but to move about you must crawl.

The interior is finished off in bare white gelcoat. Early boats had coarse, non-skid gelcoat on the overhead. While this may have been more attractive than smooth gelcoat, it really did a number on elbows and bald heads. It also tended to collect dirt and mildew. Earlier through-bolted deck fittings were capped with acorn nuts. Now the nuts lie flush with the overhead—less pain when bumped.

A molded hull liner is used to form the two quarter berths, the cabin sole, and two lockers and a galley just aft of the main bulkhead. One locker is deep enough to serve as a wet locker for foul weather gear; the other is best used to store the rudiments of a meal. The galley consists of a sink with a hand pump. A small, two burner stove could be mounted in the small, removable “table” forward of the port quarter berth. The icebox, a large portable cooler made by Igloo, has a piece of teak glued to it and doubles as a companionway step. After a season or two of jumping on the ice chest, the lid disintegrates.

The forward V-berth, although divided by the mast, is still large and comfortable enough for a couple. The boat does not come equipped with a head. To avoid the extra drag of a through-hull fitting, portable heads are often used. We would rather use a cedar bucket—there simply isn’t enough space in the cabin of a J/24 to cohabitate with a portable head. If you plan to seriously race, you won’t want to load the boat’s lockers with cruising equipment. If you do cruise, it will probably be out of a duffel bag.

J/24: How Trailerable?

The J/24 is not launchable from a boat ramp, unless the ramp is steep, paved or of hard sand, and you use a long extender between the tongue of the trailer and your trailer hitch. Her 3,100 pounds (fully loaded) require a big, 8-cylinder vehicle to tow her. She is easily launched from a 2-ton hoist which can attach to a strap on her keel bolts. However, the hatch slides just far enough forward to allow the hoisting cable to clear it, so the hatch tends to get chewed by the cable.

The J/24 was originally designed to sail at a displacement of 2,800 pounds. The class minimum was later increased to 3,100. The original single axle trailer provide as a factory option was barely adequate for the intended, 2,800 pound boat, and totally inadequate for a fully loaded boat. Tales abound of blown tires and broken trailer welds. The factory now offers both a single and double axle trailer; we recommend the double axle.

If you want to seriously race a J/24, trailering is a necessity. Local fleets grow and shrink each year with the whims of their members, but national and regional regattas continue to attract many participants. Make no mistake, however; trailering is expensive.

The owning and maintenance of a big car, the gas and tolls of trailering, and the housing of crew are not cheap.

Conclusions

The appeal of the J/24 is as a racer. If you plan to do anything else, she is not for you. Although the J/24 is relatively easy to sail, she is very difficult to sail well. To many people, she represents a chance to compete in the big leagues; by traveling to major regattas you can sail against some of the best sailors in the country. However, the big leagues are tough—if you like to race with a pick-up crew and a hangover you’d also better be satisfied with finishing last.

One appeal of the J/24 is that, unlike many big league boats, you can always come home and sail because the boat has so big a following. There are enough boats to race it one-design almost anywhere; and in a pinch, there is always handicap racing. As long as you don’t want to travel, the boat is inexpensive to maintain.

Despite our effort to highlight every flaw that has appeared throughout the J/24’s evolution, we’d like to emphasize that she is more hardy than most boats of her type. Few boats can take the punishment that a J/24 gets during a season of racing and come through with so few scars. No racing boat will appreciate; but the J/24 can keep her value.

The dream boat with the fairy tale success story has turned out, after all, to be a rugged winner in the real world.

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• Sailboat Guide

J/24 is a 24 ′ 0 ″ / 7.3 m monohull sailboat designed by Rod Johnstone and built by J Boats, Sydney Yachts/Bashford Int., Ovington Boats Ltd., and Waterline Systems, LLC starting in 1977.

• 2 / 24 Basalt, CO, US 1978 J/24 $6,000 USD View
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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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Sailboat specifications

• Last update: 13rd March 2020

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J/24 RACING TIPS FOR ALL CONDITIONS

Racing takeaways: the 2021 midwinter championship.

The 2021 Midwinter Championship in Miami, FL supplied a variety of conditions for the 29-boat fleet. North Experts with the help of Midwinters skipper John Mollicone broke down each race day by wind speed and explain the changes they made with their rig tune, body weight, crew roles, and sail trim. Although the racing took place in Florida, these tips can be related to any regatta coming up depending on wind conditions and sea state.

Tips for light to medium air: 6-10 knots

• Tiny bit of weather helm in under 6
• Consistent heel angle, always
• Send one or more down below to get low in chop
• More heel helps you stay powered up in flat water in the lightest winds
• Avoid getting close to other boats to eliminate chop and disturbed air
• 20/15 shroud tension
• Move the mast butt aft ⅜”
• Look for -3 fingers on the headstay
• 2.25 to 2.50 inch pre-bend on the mast
• Stay powered up and avoid the lulls!

In lighter conditions, the trimmer should stand down below and be agile and able to move up to the rail as the wind picks up. The trimmer controls the angle of heel the most. Two forward crew are last to go below if needed, but keep weight forward in light conditions.

Skipper/Trimmer Tips for lighter air:

• Trim the main in hard, two handed when fully powered up so you can point a little higher, 8 to 10 knots range with everyone hiking
• Trim the genoa 2-3” off the spreader tips when fully powered up, ease to 4-6” off spreader tips in the lulls.
• Move the genoa car one hole forward to power up the bottom of the jib.

North Expert Paul Abdullah commented on trim,

“I like to move off the rail and move forward. When I look at other boats who have their trimmers on the leeward side by the winch, it’s not long before we are sailing right by them. Body placement is key for the trimmer in light air. I avoid sitting to leeward by the winch, if your weight needs to be to leeward it is better to do that below deck.”

Trimming the Genoa: Medium to Heavy Air

“It is a common misconception to trim harder in more breeze, said John. This is not a solution. You actually point higher by easing out, sometimes a full foot off the spreader tip. If you see 8” off the spreader tip it’s not a bad thing if things are working for you.”

How can you tell?

• If the boat feels good, your speed is good, and you are playing the main and vang sheeting in the puffs, you will be in good shape.
• Skipper and trimmer should work together with sail trim.
• Never let the boat heel over too much. When you feel bound up, ease the genoa 5-6” off the spreader tips. Easing off the backstay will also help get your power back in the major lulls with the rig tight.
• Rig tuning tips: Medium to heavy air
• When you move your mast, 2 to 2.25” of prebend is always a good starting point.
• Headstay tension should go from 3 fingers to a tight 2 fingers.
• Having your backstay set up so you can move through a wider range is important.

“The mast butt on J24 is a powerful tool,” said North expert Nick Turney. “When the breeze increases you need to feel comfortable moving your mast. Ideally you move the mast at the dock before you leave. When you don’t make necessary adjustments to rig and mast, you will notice that you are losing punch. If your main is flattened too much, this is a direct indicator that your settings are not aligned.”

Tips for Breeze On and building: 13-18 knots

• 27/24 shroud tension
• When the wind builds, go plus 1/plus 1 – stick to full turns if possible. It’s easier to keep track.
• Moved mast butt forward, ⅜ to ½” depending on age and stiffness of mast and boat.
• If the lulls are big, you’ll need power. 27/24 is great for lulls and only a tad loose in the puffs.

The North Sails tuning guide is a great place to get your set up numbers.

Mainsail set up is important, especially in bigger breeze. If you notice wrinkles from all the clew up towards the spreaders at a 45-degree angle, this is a telltale sign that you need to go tighter on the rig, sometimes an up plus 1/plus 1 can help get your main looking better, which in turn allows it to work better. You will be able to pull on more backstay, and cunningham. The cunningham for example is not easily adjusted from the rail, so we minimized how much we moved our bodies because we needed weight out mostly, we would leave the cunningham as-is and ride it out. Another thing that is crucial is crew weight. Keeping it together and close makes hiking more effective.

With the mast settings the same as medium air conditions, it allows for depth in the mainsail while keeping the backstay tight. Weight aft together hiking hard is a good look. When changing gears, it’s important to define your modes and make adjustments. It’s very important to stay powered up and transition through the modes.

Ask yourself: “What mode do we want to be in?”

• Height mode,
• normal mode (balanced and going well through the water),
• Or fast mode

What are the changes you have to make in the back of the boat to accomplish the different modes?

Trimmers typically call the speed, the tactician may override in certain instances. The driver has the mainsheet and backstay, the trimmer adjusts the genoa sheet accordingly, it’s a constant dialog. Together you are always making sure the boat is going full speed. If you feel like the boat is stuck ease the sails out and get it going again. When the boat stalls the boat goes sideways.

“In Miami for the Midwinters,” John commented, “5.4-5.6 was our normal boat speed. We had our bow down, and our backstay on. We looked more for 5.8 to 6.2 on our velocitek once we got going. It’s nice to gauge where you want to be and see what that feels like.”

When should we switch to the blade?

Start out with the genoa if you are on the fence. Try moving the mast butt ⅜ to ½” forward, which is a conservative move. Make sure your tension is adequate. In medium breeze 29/31 could work well depending on the age and stiffness of your mast.

Ask yourself:

• Can we go upwind without the main flogging?
• Does the boat feel balanced?
• Are we slipping sideways?
• Is our speed a problem?
• If things are out of balance, speed is a struggle, and your main is flogging, then it may be time to switch to the blade.

Paul Abdullah commented,

“Understanding the ability of your trimmer is the real question. If you cannot tack the genoa efficiently, then you have your answer.”

The blade is good if the conditions are right for it. The genoa gives you the power and punch for getting through waves. The blade can be sufficient enough if breezy and flat water.

When you are on the edge of the blade in 14-16 knots, you might need to consider a step down on the shrouds and jib lead forward to power up the Jib. Keep in mind, using the genoa at the top end of the wind range means you have to pull the halyard on harder, move the lead back one as you go tighter on the shroud tension.

“On a shifty day with flat water, the blade could be the best weapon of choice. It varies for every team, so you have to do what is best for you, depending on what you are comfortable with,” said John.

Upwind strategy

• Find the pressure
• Set yourself up for the long term play
• Get into the pressure before making a decision on your next move
• It’s OK to hang in a thin lane as long as its the long tack
• Try to figure out what the long tack is before the start so you can position yourself on the starting line
• It can be a high risk to win the pin and you might not be able to tack so you have to recognize that early on
• Choosing the midline works well if the pin is crowded. It can also open doors later on up the beat.

Minimize your maneuvers

Tacking with the genoa in mid-range conditions will result in ¾ boat length loss. Chop and puffy conditions tacks are costly using the genoa especially. We made sure our tacks counted. If we wanted to make a tactical decision, we made sure we were in the best pressure first.

Downwind Strategy

• Balance crew weight
• Get around the windward mark and ask yourself: do we want to stay high or go low? After the offset, are we jibing early?
• All things should be openly discussed as the pole is being put on and you have almost arrived to the offset.
• Steer clear of potential issues
• Identify: Is there anyone around us? Are we playing defense? Recognizing scenarios early and talking about it is the key to a successful windward mark rounding and setting up for a good downwind.

Settling in for the Downwind Leg

After the kite is set, it’s important to get settled in. Depending on location, remember to check for weeds. If it’s windy, send the lightest person back to do this. It is hard to drive and check for weeds, especially in heavier air conditions.

Crew weight Downwind

• Changes with weight will help steer the boat. The trimmer and driver are mostly in the same spots all the time downwind. Driver plays the main, sits to leeward. Trimmer stands up on the deck to trim.
• Tacticians can take the guy and face outboard to help trimmer.
• If it lightens up, the tactician would go below but generally stands in the companionway.
• Bow guy went side to side as needed, twings could also move with bowman as both are more agile.
• Keep your weight outboard out to the sides.
• Keep the boat flat so if the wind increases, there is no risk of the driver losing steering due to instability.
• If it is super windy you may consider two forward crew sitting to leeward to help balance.

“Weather heel downwind pole back is my favorite,” John said. “It’s fast.”

What Gate to Choose?

• Find the path of least resistance.
• Figure out which side is lifted, and try to round the side that allows you to immediately be on the long tack.
• Ask yourself: where’s the competition and where is there less traffic?

Tips for Breezy Conditions Downwind

• Bring both twings down, especially on the jibes.
• Stacking the leeward (bow and mast) rail is a huge weapon in breeze downwind. Too much weather heel is out of control.
• Vang on- be all over it. You need more than normal if it’s breeze-on conditions.
• Backstay on just a little for stability.
• Broad reach more, don’t sail DDW in puffs or by the lee if things are getting dicey.

For the Miami Midwinters, the winners used North Sails Fathead mainsail, DX-7TT Genoa, SRB jib, and FR2 spinnaker . Have questions about optimizing your inventory? Get in touch with a North Sails J/24 expert today .

Thank you Chris Howell for your support of the class on and off the water!

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St. Pete To Shine Again

• By Dave Reed
• February 14, 2024

The St. Petersburg Yacht Club and the western shore of Florida’s Tampa Bay will be the epicenter of sailboat racing this weekend when more than 240 teams across 13 one-design classes and five handicap-racing fleets get races started for the first event of the national Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series in St. Petersburg . Now well into its third decade, the regatta will also mark 10 years with its title sponsor.

The Sunshine City’s motto is that St. Pete is “Always in Season,” and that is certainly the enticement for many teams traveling in from colder climes with the promise of warm breezes, stiff competition and a nightlife that’s never been more vibrant.

One such northerner is David Mierzwa, of Lake Placid, New York, who on Tuesday was behind the wheel and racing to get south of a big storm burying the mid-Atlantic and Northeast in snow and ice. Behind him was bitter cold, but ahead of him was warmth and the anticipation of his first Melges 24 Midwinter Championship at the regatta.

As a newbie to the demanding Melges 24, Mierzwa says his primary goal is to “stay out of everybody’s way,” but ultimately, he and his teammates are on a mission to learn the nuances of this high-performance keelboat from his peers.

“We’re going so we can hunt for tips, tricks and whatever makes us better,” Mierzwa says. “It’s about having the opportunity to do an event of this caliber with likeminded people, because while sailing is the goal, being surrounded by others that do the same sport is sometimes better than the sport itself.”

As the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in St. Petersburg will be his team’s first major event, he recognizes they don’t have a high enough racing pedigree to vie for the Midwinter Championship title—yet. “The only way we can get to that point is to go out there and race,” he says.

And race they will, from early Friday morning through late Sunday, alongside several other one-design classes that are the regulars of this February classic, including the S2 7.9s and the Hobie 33s , both of which will also be vying for their midwinter championship titles. 

The S2s have the returning champions of Tom and Mary Bryant’s “Team Matros” from Holland, Michigan, which won seven of eight races in 2023 to earn their berth at the Helly Hansen Sailing World Caribbean Championship last October. At each of the series’ five events one team is selected to compete in the British Virgin Islands for the overall season title.

The Hobie 33s also have their champions returning to defend— Craig and Deborah Wilusz’s “Hoof Hearted”—but this year there’s a new and unknown challenger from Waxhaw, North Carolina, and it’s a boat with a nefarious name: “Bad Bunny.” Its new owner, Sean Rhone, says he’s looking forward to meeting and racing with other Hobie 33 owners for the first time and “taking a peek under their hoods.”

Rhone has been primarily racing his Hobie 33 in singlehanded events and low-key races on North Carolina’s Lake Norman, and like Mierzwa, he’s not sure how well he’ll fare, especially with a five-person team that’s been assembled by way of social media message boards, and whom he’s never met.

“It’s cold in Charlotte,” Rhone says, “and I’m getting tired of the cold weather, so when I saw that the fleet was having its midwinters in St. Petersburg, I thought it would be nice to go and race against some other Hobie 33s for once.”

Mierzwa and Rhone may pass each other on an interstate somewhere on the way to St. Pete, along with a sizable Canadian contingent of Contender dinghy sailors making their annual pilgrimage from across the northern border. The 16-foot Contender, which its loyalists claim to be “The Sexiest Singlehander in the World ” was introduced in 1969 and continues to be popular internationally, as well as in Tampa thanks to local sailmaker Ethan Bixby. Bixby, a champion of many classes, continues to rally the troops to the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta and the fleet has doubled for this year’s gathering. Bixby, who won all races last year, will of course be among the 11 trapezing sailors.

Sharing the same racecourse will be eight teams racing the doublehanded Windmill class, which is new to the regatta lineup, but another cult classic sparked in the 1950s. Class measurer Pat Huntley, of Erie, Pennsylvania, is now a decade into Windmill racing, and says he’s eager to enjoy some fast sailing in St. Pete and good times with his fellow Windmillers. “It’s such a fun and cool group,” Huntley says. “And the Windmill is such a bad-ass skinny and fast boat. It can handle the chop easily and is really fast.” 

Five teams racing in the 20-foot Flying Dutchman class (first built in 1951) will hail from California to Tennessee and hosted by local FD ace, Lin Robson, the 2023 class winner. The doublehanded bonanza, however, will be the Melges 15 class, which will feature an impressive 31 teams, nearly double from 2023. The new one-design class has exploded in popularity across the country since its introduction three years ago, and midwinter regattas elsewhere in Florida have maxed out at nearly 100 boats.

Among the Melges 15 ranks in St. Petersburg will be New York’s Iris Vogel, who has traditionally raced the regatta with her larger one-design keelboats over the years (a Soverel 33 and a J/88, both named “Deviation”). Vogel is now enjoying the challenge of big-fleet racing and exhilarating downwind sailing.

Racing with her partner, Tim Longo, Vogel helms and Longo handles the front of the boat, and over the past year they’ve been working their way up the scoreboard, but have a long way to go to the top. “This is a totally new thing to sail in such a big fleet,” Vogel says. “J/88 events typically get a dozen boats at best, and the racing is much slower paced. The tactics are completely different and boats are fast downwind so it’s a ton of fun, but we are still learning a different style of racing. Having the smaller fleet [at the Helly Hansen Regatta] will give us a chance to work on our boatspeed.”

While the out-of-town armada is significant, local sailors look forward to the regatta every year, especially Tampa Bay’s PHRF sailors who’ve made the event a key fixture in their Suncoast Boat of the Year Series. For these fleets, which now comprise the regatta’s largest group with 38 entries across four divisions (Spinnaker, Non-Spinnaker, Racer-Cruiser and Cruising) organizers have added two days of long-course racing over the weekend. Depending on the wind strength and direction of the day, the race committee will plot a daylong course to test each team’s navigational and sailing skills, as well as their perseverance and desire to be first to the dock and first to the yacht club bar.

Local sailor Tim Landt, who has been an active sailor on the Tampa Bay waterfront for decades, is a registered competitor in the Cruising division in his new-to-him Nightwind 35, “Charisma.” He’s excited to see the regatta’s blossoming distance-race fleet and says the local growth and interest in racing older-generation yachts is good for the sport and for the Tampa Bay racing scene.

But it’s not all classic plastics in the distance fleet. In the Racer-Cruiser division will be the sparkling new Neo 43, owned by Ken Mungan of nearby Isles Yacht Club in Punta Gorda, Florida. Mungan purchased his sleek Italian-built 43-footer in 2022 with big plans to take on a few of the sport’s marque distance races, and local events like the Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta offer he and his team an opportunity to learn the boat in a racing environment.

“When I turned 40 I needed a hobby and took up sailing,” Munger says. “I’m always trying new things and got into racing 2019. I did the Melges 24 for a while, but the Neo, because it’s a shallow-draft boat, allows me to do more local long-distance racing and we’re learning a lot.”

For this weekend’s regatta, Munger has more crew lined up than there are roles on the boat, but that’s fine with him. “We’re going to be overloaded, and I am anticipating a level of skill and organization that we don’t quite have yet,” he admits. “We’ll have two coaches and a new set of racing jibs that will be used for the first time, so it will be fun, and I’m looking forward to it.”

While the long-course racers are making their way around the bay, closer to shore, will be the multihulls: the high-tech A Class Catamarans , which have two divisions (Classic and Foiling) totaling 33 competitors, and the Weta Trimarans , with a smaller contingent from years past, return with nine boats, and among them is two-time defending champion and local Pete Merrifield looking for a three-peat.

         The iconic Lightning Class is one of the regatta’s largest one-design fleets, with 25 boats, five of which will be raced by members of the Starck family with a few world champions among them. Hall of Famer, Augie Diaz, of Miami, and Ched Proctor, of Southport, Connecticut, both world champions as well, always add to the high level of racing and camaradarie Lightning sailors enjoy all winter. The Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta in St. Petersburg is a key warm-up event for the Lightning class’s hotly-contested two-regatta Southern Circuit with March events in St. Pete and Miami.

Sharing one racing circle immediately off the city front will be the 29-boat J/70 fleet and a reemergent J/24 fleet, both of which will no doubt provide quality racing for both professional and amateur sailors. The same will be true for the ever-competitive ORC fleet, with 11 entries, which will be racing further south. Bill and Jackie Baxter’s J/111 “Fireball,” from Stamford, Connecticut, which has won all of its events this winter will return to defend its 2023 ORC title, which it earned with ease, winning seven of eight races.

• More: Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series , Helly Hansen Sailing World Regatta Series St. Petersburg
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