As a result, Eduardo decided to visit the J/Composites factory in Les Sables d'Olonne, France. He wanted to see how the boat was built and to take a test sail. Thanks to the efforts of Fred Bouvier, a day of sailing and taking a J/Composites factory tour was organized for Eduardo and friends.
One year later, in June 2020, Mr. Capdeville placed an order for J/99 hull #60 (pictured skippering with family crew).
After the confirmation of the order, the J/Boats dealer in Chile- Juan Eduardo Reid- started the process of organizing all the details and logistics for Mr. Capdeville to complete the boat in France, ship the boat from France to Chile via the Panama Canal; and commission the boat in Algarrobo, Chile.
The optional equipment was finalized, including the big wheel J/111 pedestal option. ONE SAILS were selected for the entire set of sail, the first J/99 worldwide to have them. Additional items included a 12" chart plotter for the wheel pedestal, a long list of West Marine safety equipment, covers, cradle, mooring, proper anti-fouling bottom paint and so forth. As Juan exclaimed, "I soon realized I was configuring this boat like it was for me, but keeping the customer's desire in mind for all things onboard.
The boat arrived safely on November 22nd, 2020 and, amazingly, we were ready to go sailing on the 9th of December with very light winds!"
As Juan described the occasion, "I wanted to make it a real sea trail for our owner. So, I got together with a famous and very experienced South American sailor- José Muñoz- and we did some test sailing on January 10th, 2021 as the weather would be the right ones.
The conditions were perfect- 12-14 kts, sun, and gentle rolling swells from the southeast (e.g., storm swells from the Roaring Forties down by the Antarctic Ocean).
"During the current pandemic, with the daily cases going up again, going to sail a brand-new J/99 with a great sail inventory and my friend José with the perfect sunny and windy day, was kind of a miracle", commented Juan. "Also, we got Yanko to film with his DJI Drone and Choncho to rent his nice FE 580 RIB. Sailing was perfect! The IFS A4 asymmetric spinnaker fit and performed perfectly, as well as the rest of the ONE Sail inventory. Flavio Formosa from design and Slovenian Loft
did a great job."
Juan continues describing their experience, "the J/99 is amazing. The wheel is sensitive and transmits the sensation from the rudder perfectly. With 14 kts of breeze, the boat was going 6.8 to 7.1 kts with no crew on the rail. Very stable, similar to the J/105. And, the hull going through the waves was smooth and strong... hard to describe, but easy to understand for a J/Boats owner. The V shape section and the good hull, sail plan, foils and ballast make the whole combination perfect and the boat just flies through the water."
He added, "downwind, we were making 8 to 9 kts, with a breeze of just 12 to 14 kts. There was no planing condition, but you can see that the boat will go planing very easily with winds over 15 to 16 kts. Very stable, very easy. Nice, nice, nice.
Other aspects that surprised us was the nicely appointed interior, nice headroom (almost 1.8 meters) and simple, but good distribution. This is a big step ahead of the J/105, a boat that we are very used to in Chile, with a fleet of thirty boats.
For the J/99, another really nice aspect is the nice aluminum mast with an integral mainsail luff track (for sliders), that makes mainsail handling very easy. Also, the trimming system for the jib (with up- down and in-out) makes it very easy to tune the jib shape to any wind/wave condition. This gives you the opportunity of having only one all-purpose jib, as we did for "Lady Chopper II", with Harken furler and vertical battens.
Congratulations to Al Johnstone for the nice design, J/Composite for the good construction, and the entire J/Boats team to achieve more than 60 J/99's built to date. We are happy to have two already in South America; one in Chile and one in Perú.
Now, we look forward to racing doublehanded regattas in IRC, a TCC of 1.005 is very promising.
And, we are also looking forward to sailing the bigger brother of this boat, the new J/45. We see in both models the same design considerations; we believe the J/45 will be a rocket in the water; an easy to sail, soft, stable, well-built, comfortable rocket offshore." To learn more about the J/99 shorthanded offshore speedster
