The International FJ is a Dutch

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

that was designed by

Uus Van Essen Tennessine is a synthetic chemical element with the symbol Ts and atomic number 117. It is the second-heaviest known element and the penultimate element of the 7th period of the periodic table. The discovery of tennessine was officially anno ...

and Conrad Gülcher as a trainer and one design racer, first built in 1956. The boat was initially called the Flying Dutchman Junior (after the Flying Dutchman one design racer), as it was designed as a trainer for that Olympic sailing class boat. It was later called the Flying Junior. In 1980 the name was again officially changed to the International FJ. The design became a

World Sailing World Sailing (WS) is the world sport governing body, governing body for the sailing (sport), sport of sailing recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). History The creation of the Inter ...

accepted

International class International Class is a status that the World Sailing grants, in exchange for fees of various kinds, to sailing boat classes that offered a “high standard of international competitive sailing” and satisfy a number of criteria regarding the num ...

in 1972-73.

Production

The design has been built by a large number of companies including Grampian Marine and

Paceship Yachts Paceship Yachts Limited was a Canada, Canadian, and later United States, American, boat builder originally based in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia. The company was founded in 1962 and specialized in the design and manufacture of fiberglass sailboats. ...

in Canada, Chantier Naval Costantini in France, Alpa Yachts, Centro Nautico Adriatico, Comar Yachts and Nautivela in Italy, Advance Sailboat Corp,

W. D. Schock Corp The W. D. Schock Corporation (usually styled W. D. Schock Corp) is an American boat builder originally based in Newport Beach, California, later in Corona, California and currently located in Santa Ana, California. The company was founded by Wi ...

, Whitecap Composites and Zim Sailing in the United States. 4,600 boats have been built. W. D. Schock Corp records indicate that they built 70 boats between 1968 and 1972. It remains in production by Centro Nautico Adriatico, Zim Sailing and Whitecap Composites.

Design

The International FJ is a racing

sailing dinghy Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls: * the sails * the foils (i.e. the daggerboard or centreboard and rudder and sometimes lifting foils as found on the Moth) * the trim (forward/rear angle o ...

, with early versions built from wood.

Fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

was class-authorized in 1960. The boat has a fractional sloop rig, a

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a plumb transom, a transom-hung

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

controlled by a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

and retractable centerboard. It displaces . The boat has a draft of with the centerboard extended and with it retracted, allowing operation in shallow water, beaching, ground transportation on a trailer or car roof. For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a symmetrical

spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually n ...

of . The boat is sailed with a crew of two

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s. A single

trapeze A trapeze is a short horizontal bar hung by ropes or metal straps from a ceiling support. It is an aerial apparatus commonly found in circus performances. Trapeze acts may be static, spinning (rigged from a single point), swinging or flying, an ...

is available for use by the crew. The Club FJ is a version with heavier construction but similar dimensions produced by Zim Sailing. It displaces and has a spinnaker of . Whitecap Composites produces a lightened version of the design with improved ergonomics, marketed as the "Turbo FJ".

Operational history

The boat is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the ''International FJ Class''.

References

External links

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References

External links