You may have noticed those very fast catamarans sailing on the Bay during the last week in August. They were part of the America’s Cup World Series, a worldwide series of regattas leading up to the America’s Cup race that will be held on San Francisco Bay during fall 2013.
The complex class rating formula for the magnificent J Class yachts resulted in only 10 of these boats being built. They were used in three America’s Cup campaigns in the 1930s. Photo by Josh Mainka/J Class Association
By CaptaIn Ray
Published: October, 2012
You may have noticed those very fast catamarans sailing on the Bay during the last week in August. They were part of the America’s Cup World Series, a worldwide series of regattas leading up to the America’s Cup race that will be held on San Francisco Bay during fall 2013. If you didn’t see them, you’ll have another chance early this month during Fleet Week, October 2 - 7.
America’s Cup has often spotlighted impressive boats. Many people believe that a pinnacle was reached during the 1930s with the magnificent J Class yachts. These remarkable yachts were used in only three America’s Cup campaigns: 1930, 1934 and 1937. The complex class rating formula (see below) produced only 10 of these boats, four in Great Britain and six in the United States. World War II interfered with the competitions, and racing did not resume until 1958. Then, it was with much smaller yachts in an attempt to contain costs.
What impressive vessels the J Class yachts were—or are, because four of them survive and still sail. Most of the boats you see sailing on San Francisco Bay are in the 25 to 45 foot range, displace between two and 15 tons, have a sail area between 250 and 900 square feet, are competently sailed by two or three and raced by a crew of four or five. In contrast, J Class yachts vary in length from 119 to 139 feet, displace from 128 to 166 tons, carry over 7,000 square feet of sail, are sailed by 15 to 20, and raced by a crew of about 40! As you can see from these numbers, they are very big, very fast and very powerful. While somewhat overused these days, the most common term used to describe what it feels like to sail one of these glorious boats is "awesome."
One of the rules of the America’s Cup (still in force) requires that the hull be constructed in the country of the challenging yacht club. Another rule (since repealed) is that the challenger must sail to the race course "on her own bottom." The latter rule created a bias in favor of the defending boat, which would not have to cross an ocean to get to the race course. This allowed the defenders to be designed and built just for speed, while a challenger had to be much more seaworthy and therefore more robustly constructed. It is interesting to note that, perhaps because of this built-in bias, all four of the J Class yachts still in existence are British—they had to be sea-worthy to make the trip across the Atlantic.
I hope this gives you some idea of what wonderful creations the J Class yachts are. There are only four of them left in the world, so I don’t know if we’ll ever get to see one sailing on San Francisco Bay. But if we do, she would certainly be easy to spot!
Ray Wichmann, is a US SAILING-certified Ocean Passagemaking Instructor, a US SAILING Instructor Trainer, and a member of US SAILING’s National Faculty. He holds a 100-Ton Master’s License, was a charter skipper in Hawai’i for 15 years, and has sailed on both coasts of the United States, in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Greece. He is presently employed as the Master Instructor at OCSC Sailing in the Berkeley Marina.
