The J 70 is supposed to be more than just a new boat. You even hear the word paradigm shift when talking about the first J that can be slipped directly from the trailer. Very simple and quite American. And that's exactly how this One Design comes across: large cockpit, small cabin, carbon fibre mast, simple sail plan with aft stay but no backstay, plus furling jib, bowsprit and masthead gennaker. It is a nod to the older and much more athletic Melges 24, which defined the sports boat segment almost two decades ago.
The aim for designer Rod Johnstone was to create a versatile boat with the J 70, fast enough for experts but also tame enough for the family, which would also be inexpensive to buy and maintain. "At 75, I'm not quite dewy-eyed anymore, and I find myself designing boats that are easy for me to sail and easy to operate," Johnstone joked to YACHT online. "The older I get, the easier the boats should be to sail, otherwise I might have to go golfing."
The aim is not only to appeal to private buyers, but also to clubs and sailing centres that want to offer their members a boat that meets differentiated requirements and is also fun to sail. The first customer is the New York Yacht Club, which will maintain a fleet of J 70s in Newport, on which, among other things, the US championship of the best yacht clubs will be held this summer.
The first sea trials took place these days in pre-summer temperatures off Bristol in the US state of Rhode Island, where the boat is also being built for the US market after J Boats withdrew part of its production from China. The first production boats are expected to be delivered in April. Licence production is also scheduled to start in France later in the year.
Jeff Johnstone, President of J Boats, told YACHT online that an entry-level price of 45,000 US dollars including trailer and sails is being targeted for the US market, but for the time being this only applies to fleet purchases. Unit prices and pricing for the European market are yet to be announced. Detailed solutions for fittings and rigging will be finalised soon, and as soon as hull number 2 is available, there will be direct comparative tests to determine the cut and size of the sails for one-class operation.
More under http://www.jboats.com/j70/
