J-24 Winter Cruise

Rod Johnstone Visits Fleet 23

Rod Johnstone

Fleet 23 held it's "winter cruise" on the evening of March 2 at Sail Works on the waterfront in Burlington. More than 40 folks stopped by during the evening to share winter stories, horderves and sample the Magic Hat Ale. It was a great time for old friends to reconnect, and an opportunity for all to reminisce about the past season.

Fleet Captain, Allen Oulette, presented the finial trophies for the 1995 season, with Al Hobart taking the J-24 Fleet 23 trophy. The trophy is a half model made and donated by Don and Ann Brush. Although it has not been awarded in the past few years, it is exciting to see the fleet racing for a championship again.

Allen Oulette introduced Rod Johnstone to the gathering. Rod is the designer of the J-24, as well as the entire line of J-Boats. He spoke to the group about how important he believes the local fleets are to the success of the J-24 class.

Allen Oulette Fleet Captain

Rod spoke to the beginnings of the J-24. He and his wife spent the 1974 season racing an Olympic class 470. Although she was never an active racer she was a good sport leaving the five children at home with a baby sitter going off to regattas with Rod. During a race when the boat became slightly out of balance, Rod compared to her graceful movements to that of an elephant, she announced that her racing career was over. His spirits only slightly dampened, Rod took his 13 year old son, Jeff, along on the next three regattas. No longer a part of the racing scene, home life was becoming increasing tense and Rod knew he needed a new boat.

Having designed a 24 foot boat, he set out to find someone to invest in and build this boat, with no luck. (I wonder how those potential investors look back missed opportunities) The original boat had very large companion way opening. Rod designed it to open up to give added headroom, and with a boom tent he figured he had the perfect boat. During that winter Rod started the project in his three car garage, building the boat out of fiberglass, and plywood, launching it in 1976 as the family boat. Being light and responsive the boat quickly proved to be excellent family racer. The rest is history.

Rod spoke of several changes being considered in the J-24 class.

A proposal to reduce the crew weight limit from 880 to around 725 - 750 pounds. He feels that the boat was not designed to sail with 880 pounds A lighter crew would reduce the number of crew from 5 to 4. Rod believes that the J-24 will be faster and easier to sail downwind in a blow. The class is considering sailing longer courses. Although he did not have specific recommendations, Rod reminisced about the original J-24 trapezoid course with 4 mile windward legs. He considers this type of course to be more tactical and less reliant on boat speed. "the problem with olympic courses is if you aren't in the top ten at the windward mark the race is all over".

J-Boats delivered 80 new J-24's in 1995, about 40 of those in the US and the remaining in a variety of countries including Argentina. The boat has kept it's strict one-design background, with only a few minor modifications since the original boats were built in 1977. The last update was an improved factory keel, so that a new boat can be raced, right out of the box.

He closed the evening with a short discussion and a slide show on the newest J-Boats, including the J-105, J-80 and the 53' J-160. Rod is a strong supporter of one-design racing and feels the new Sprit J-Boats are the wave of the future. Fast and powerful boats that are easily handled by only a few people, making sailing and racing appealing to those who don't want the hassles of a large crew.

The evening closed with door prizes donated by a variety of local businesses. Many thanks to WEZF, Shore Sails, Al Horbart, Sail Works, Champlain Chocolates, Harbor Watch and the Shelburne Shipyard, for their support.

Tim Ambrose & John Kimura