AHOY! The Randolph Area Model Yacht Association (RAMYA) :scared: wishes to announce the posting of the NOR for the J Class National Championship Regatta to be held in Live Oak, Texas (Near San Antonio) on October 26, 27, and 28, 2007.
Come one and all and see the largest models in the AMYA out on a lake large enough to allow them to stretch out and run. If you can’t make it… then tune in on the new Official J Class website and watch the updates and see all the action in pictures and video.
Come in person and enjoy TEXAS hospitality, good food and great sailing at a dedicated pond specified by City ordinance for MODEL SAILBOATS ONLY! Coolers with your favorite beverage are legal and welcomed, so even if you don’t have a boat, but are interested in the largest sailing models class in the AMYA… come out and see the fun and beautiful boats… and maybe you will WIN A NEW J BOAT AT THE RAFFLE ! :crazy:
They are between 72 abd 90 lbs displacement. We have a custom made dolly that moves the models from the cars/trailers to the water… and a specially trained youth group known as “Boat Monkeys” that launch and retieve the boats for the skippers. How’s THAT for service!
It takes two people to launch and retrieve a 101.5" model with a 10’ mast and a half-sheet of plywood for sail area.
Larry would you be kind enough to post the rating rule for the class on the website.
They truly are a magnificent looking craft and I am sure must be a joy to sail.
Best wishes,:zbeer:
are you wanting the Class Rules? They can be found on the AMYA page for the J Class. Basically, it is what is described under the history on the OfficialJClass.org page that being a 1/16th scale hull and scale rig. You are free to pick any of the actual boats that sailed in the J Class in defense of, or pursuit of the America’s Cup.
Enterprise/Shamrock V, Rainbow/Endeavour, Ranger/Endeavour II are the most common of the boats sailing today. The class originated with a smaller scale version of Whirlwind, and there are still quite a few of them out there.
Endeavour is now my 7th J boat (they are akin to peanuts… once you start you can’t stop) with Weetamoe, and Yankee bringing up the list of the…“also boats”… but are not as popular. Then too there are a couple of others Britania I believe, and another “pace horse”… starts with a “W”… but too tired to remember it tonight. There is an excellent source on them in the book “Enterprise to Endeavour” by Ian Dear. It is now in it’s 4th edition and you can find it on Amazon.com.
I can honestly say… that once you have sailed a J, nothing else compares. I own 30+ boats and started sailing models back in 1981 and there is really nothing that can equal the feeling… and sailing a J with a genoa is even more so… watching that big sail fill and draw and seeing the surge and white foam coming up off the bow… is remarkable… but what will really get you is on a quiet pond, when no one else is around… sitting under a tree and and listening to your boat go near to you on the shore is remarkable.
You can hear the water lapping off the bow exactly as you do on your fullsized boat. There is a lot of satisfaction (although we all deny it) in watching the little 1 meter boats bob back and forth and hobby-horse over the wake of a J moving at hull speed.
One other thing… don’t think for a moment that they are slow… they are SO big, that they appear slow. Just as the same illusion you get when you see a truly large airplane such as a C-5a going over… it appears to be crawling along… atleast until you put another boat out there. In light air… nothing can touch a J going around the marks.
One of the first times I sailed E-II over at the Woodlawn club, Ray Seta and I were playing tag with his all graphite 10rater. He could accelerate as a dragster and leave me… gaining 30’ in a puff… and then the puff would let off… and I would hail him from leeward to “start bringing it up” and he was laughing and saying HOW! I don’t even have steerage.!! a J at hull speed can take 75 yards to come to a stop… if you can find a vacuum to sail in… otherwise they just keep going. 90lbs at 6 kts is a lot of inirtia in the water.