(Harbor Springs, MI)- For those of you interested in the J/111, we
thought we'd pass along some comments made by David Irish, a very
experienced offshore sailor and champion racer from the Great Lakes,
that had the opportunity to test sail the J/111 over two days in a
variety of conditions off Newport, both in Narragansett Bay and offshore
in Rhode Island Sound. Dave offered his perspectives and reactions to
the J/111:"The J-111 is a different kind of J-Boat. It has a tall carbon rig and relatively more sail area in relation to its displacement. The interior is simple, comfortable, and roomy, but not elaborate. The galley is basic with a stove, sink, and ice box. The head forward has full privacy, and there is an aft-located sit down navigation station with room for what is needed. Full headroom in the boat feels great.
But to a sailor who likes going offshore and often races, there are some characteristics of the J-111 that greatly please me. First, I am ready for wheel steering in a boat of this size, but I am quite fussy about the wheel arrangement. The gearing or ratio must be quick, with no wheel winding! If my hand is on the top of the wheel and I move it to the right, the bow pulpit should move to the right with it. As well, the diameter of the wheel should provide comfortable hand height when standing behind or towards the sides, and to allow you to steer upwind while sitting outboard and even straddling the wheel with small vertical wheel movements. And of course the rudder has to be up to the job, deep and well designed to provide solid control and direct response. The J-111 rates a 10 on each of these properties!
Second, the rig is all important for sailing pleasure and racing success. The days of overlapping genoas on short rigs are largely gone. Better than big overlapping genoa jobs for power is the taller rig, preferably carbon, with easy to trim jibs that don’t overlap the mast. Combine that with today’s jib roller furling equipment and we get great performance and simple sail management. The J-111 has a tall carbon mast from Hall Spars. The mast has a clever track, which will accept a bolt rope, round slugs, or substantial cars. I opt for the cars, with the mainsail left on the boom, all ready to hoist, low friction, and simple and safe for short-handed or single-handed sailing. As well, with luff cars, reefing is both simple and safe. To raise the sail, take off the sail cover, snap on the halyard, hoist, and trim—that’s it!!! And reversing the process after a sail is as simple- just flake the sail on the boom with the luff supported by the cars and put on the sail cover. This boat is well suited for single-handed and short-handed sailing, both favorites of mine.
And third, asymmetrical spinnakers set on a sprit have matured nicely. In the early days of this arrangement I was unconvinced. Sure, sail handling was easy and reaching was good, but downwind left something to be desired. To keep power in the sail, we had to reach up to a “hotter” angle, and gave away the ability to sail deep. Probably the biggest change has been the evolution in sail shape to powerful heads on the sails that will lift or roll the sail out to weather, and give a downwind shape similar to a symmetrical spinnaker. As well, a light and easily driven hull that will get up and go makes downwind sailing with A-sails the fun way to go, simpler to manage and potentially faster and more fun to sail. With no spinnaker pole, no mast track and eye, no after-guys, no topping lift, and just one string to handle in a jibe, the parts count went way down!
The first three items are big, but of course there are many reasons to like this boat including: the boom ends at a point forward of the wheel and is 6’ above the cockpit floor to minimize the worrisome possibilities of a whack on the head for skipper or crew; the powerful 3 cylinder engine utilizes a sail drive for smooth and quiet propulsion and precise handling and docking; and the cabin house is the right height so that when the helmsman sits at the helm, he or she looks over the cabin top at boats and water, not into the side of the cabin or the foot of an overlapping jib.
Sailing the boat I felt completely at home and comfortable and happy. I can hardly wait for spring to start the next chapter in my sailing life on J-111 hull #15!!" For more J/111 one-design sailboat information.