(San Francisco, CA)- Norman Davant from Sail California sent this report to SailingAnarchy.com from the first sail of the new J/99 offshore shorthanded speedster on the west coast. Norm and crew took her for a spin on the infamous San Francisco Bay to give it a good test after the Pacific Sailboat Expo boat show in Richmond, CA. Commented Norm,
“We went thru several gyrations of everything, stretching and settling-in, and finally got the rig set up correctly. The headstay adjustment will be the key to the boat, keep the rig straight as the breeze comes up and then apply backstay.
Jeff Thorpe and Peter Cameron set the rig up as we went up thru the range; it sure helped to have these two guys along. We think we have good numbers in the 14-18 knots range, we need to sail in a bit more wind to make sure the headstay and shrouds are correct, they are close for sure.
We had six sailors on board. Amazingly, the J/99 is on “rails” up wind, totally balanced, beautiful touch on the helm.
We did not have anyone hiking; I wanted to see what the stability was like. The boat is really stiff; you can sail with two upwind in breeze for sure.
As we were tuning, I did the old bear away trick to see if you can bear away with sails fully trimmed-in. No problem! There is no shortage of rudder size and control!
Downwind, we had a few nice 18-knot puffs and we were cruising along at 12 kts boatspeed with all the control you would want. Was I surprised with the way the boat handled and sailed? Not at all. Designer Al Johnstone nailed the design and the build was exactly as expected out of J/Composites in Europe.
This boat will be a weapon for anyone that wants to go short-handed racing.” Thanks for contribution from Norm Davant and SailingAnarchy.com Add to Flipboard Magazine.
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