Sailing The J/100

Your Ed sailed the new J/100 in the SDYC New Year's Day Race. First, the boat is, without deviating from the J Boat signature look, a handsome, clean and well proportioned boat. A long roomy cockpit, small and low house and very simple controls say "easy to sail" and indeed it is.

I steered hull #8, from Sail California which was rated at 75 and configured without a genoa (we had a100% jib on a furler) or symmetrical spinnaker (it had a code zero on a furler), but we borrowed an old .75 kite from a Capri 30 for the race. With a 3DL main and 100% jib (they both looked quite nice, btw) the J/100 not surprisingly lacked enough horsepower to hang with boats like the Adhara 30 and B32 upwind in the light air (about 4-6 true). Once the breeze was 8 or so, the boat went well and we were about the same speed as a Beneteau 36.7 upwind, and with an old borrowed symmetrical undersized kite, we were a bit quicker downwind.

I don't think one could race this boat competitively downwind with the standard non pole asso only. A full sized asymmetrical spinn will need to be added, and the sad sack one that we used didn't do us any favors, but the boat was able to go deep with decent pace. I still think the 100 needs a sprit, but what do I know......

I'm sure as the breeze comes on the boat is competitive and it is really nice to sail - easy to steer, easy to sit on and move about. The overall fit and finish of the 100 is about as nice as we've seen from J, and even with the limited space that low freeboard and cabin house give, they did a good job with the accommodations down below. It is a tidy package.

I quite liked the 100, but quite liked it quite a bit less when I was told that this boat cost about $135 large! That strikes me as ridiculously expensive, but then I feel that way about all J Boats. The record will show that hasn't stopped people from buying J Boats in amazing numbers. The 100 is executed very well, and for the guy looking for a quick, good looking daysailor who is not concerned about price, this one fills the bill.

Photo courtesy Dennis St.Onge.

1/2/05