J/95 First Sail in England

(Hamble, So'ton, England)- Paul Heys reports on their inaugural sail aboard the first J/95 in Europe.  "Whilst we have been stoked with the downwind performance of the J/95, it is the upwind performance that is the biggest surprise for this shoal-draft sailboat.  We had imagined that the J/95 keel would be much less efficient than a normal fixed fin.  On Thursday last, whilst out sailing with Andy Robertson from yachts and Yachting magazine, we lined up with an Elan 310, which is a new model, fin keeler with twin rudders.  At times the Elan 310 looked like they had height, yet our VMG was definitely better and after half an hour and a few tacks the Elan 310 rolled the jib up, gave up and headed back for home.  Yesterday we lined up the J/95 against the known quantity we sailed all last season, the J/97.  Both boats sailed with code 4 jibs as it was by now 15-22 knots of breeze and choppy seas on the Solent.  The J/95 sailed with four people with two on the rail; the J/97 sailed with three people with 1.5 on the rail (kept moving back and forth).  The J/95 hung onto the J/97 very well for a long period upwind in what would arguably be the worst possible conditions for a shoal-draft keel centerboarder to be testing for upwind performance- steep chop, current, blowing hard.  In short, the J/95 is a sparkling performer.  We anticipate a lot of enthusiasm building for her as we get more people out for demo sails. " For more J/95 sailing performance information.