The J/80 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by

Rod Johnstone Rodney "Rod" Johnstone (born January 15, 1937) is an American sailor who founded the boat builder " J/Boats". Personal life Johnstone has a brother, Bob, who he founded their company J/Boats with, a wife, Lucia, who he lives with in Stoningt ...

as a one design racer and first built in 1992. The design is a recognized

International Sailing Federation International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * ''International'' (New Order album), 2002 * ''International'' (The T ...

world class with a crew of three sailors.

Production

The design has been built by

Tillotson Pearson Pearson Yachts was a sailboat manufacturer founded by Everett Pearson and Clinton Pearson in 1956. One of the first fiberglass sailboat manufacturers, they grew rapidly during the 60s and 70s, while also developing and designing new boats. Howe ...

since 1992, for J/Boats in the United States, with over 1,600 built and it remains in production. At one time it was produced by Waterline Systems, also located in the US.

Design

The J/80 is a racing keelboat, with the hull built predominantly of fiberglass. It has a fractional

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

rig with a retractable bowsprit controlled from the cockpit by a deployment line. The hull has a raked stem, a plumb

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed swept fin keel. It displaces and carries of ballast. The cockpit is long and the hull has a sealed buoyancy compartment on the bow. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel. It can be ground transported on a double axle

boat trailer A boat trailer is designed to launch, retrieve, carry and sometimes store boats. Commercial boat trailers Commercial hydraulic boat trailers are used by marinas, boat yards, boat haulers, boat dealers and boat builders. Generally this type ...

towed by an eight cylinder SUV or van. For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with an asymmetrical spinnaker of . It will

plane Plane(s) most often refers to: * Aero- or airplane, a powered, fixed-wing aircraft * Plane (geometry), a flat, 2-dimensional surface Plane or planes may also refer to: Biology * Plane (tree) or ''Platanus'', wetland native plant * Planes (gen ...

under spinnaker. The design has a hull speed of .

Operational history

The boat is supported by an active class club that organizes racing events, the ''International J/80 Class Association''. There are 30 fleets racing in 12 countries, including in North America, Europe and China. It has also been used for two-boat

match racing A match race is a race between two competitors, going head-to-head. In sailboat racing it is differentiated from a fleet race, which almost always involves three or more competitors competing against each other, and team racing where teams consis ...

. In a 1994 expert review in ''Sailing World Magazine'' Doug Logan concluded, "In the test's light airs, the J/80 could often sail at or close to windspeed, and in several instances recorded the best leg times. While hard to define as a "conservative" boat, this Rod Johnstone creation doesn't go to the max in sailplan and (lack of) stability, and employs the proven construction materials used in thousands of earlier J/Boats. This might cost a bit of speed in light air with chop, but should broaden the boat's user-friendliness in stronger winds."

Events

References

External links