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

Stonington, Connecticut The town of Stonington is located in New London County, Connecticut in the state's southeastern corner. It includes the borough of Stonington (borough), Connecticut, Stonington, the villages of Pawcatuck, Connecticut, Pawcatuck, Lords Point, and W ...

, and a son, Alan who is the chief designer of J/Boats. He is a member of both the Wadawanuck and Stonington Harbor yacht club as well as a member in the Stonington Harbor Management Commission. In 2016, he and his brother received the ''America and the Sea'' honor, an honor that recognizes the contributions to elements of the sea. They received the honor for their company, J/Boats. Despite his old age, Johnstone likes to sail, winning championships in several J/boat classes in various Race Weeks. He also competed in the Bermuda Race with his nephew in 2017.

Early life and careers

Early life

On January 15, 1937, Rodney Stuart Johnstone was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey. At a young age, Johnstone raced various boats at the Wadawanuck Yacht Club in

and won several club and ECYRA trophies from 1947 to 1954. He and his father, Rob, constructed a homemade Lighting #3310 boat in a garage, which Johnstone used for racing boats like Thistles, 505s, and 470s. He stated that these ships played a role on designing a 24-foot sailboat that would become the

J/24 The J/24 is an international One-Design and Midget Ocean Racing Club trailerable keelboat class built by J/Boats and defined by World Sailing. The J/24 was created to fulfill the diverse needs of recreational sailors such as cruising, one d ...

. In the 1960s, Johnstone has attended a Westlawn School of Yacht Design correspondence course, but he has never graduated from there (though he did receive an honorary degree sometime later). During the 1970s, he borrowed his neighbor's to spectate a New York Yacht Club reaching start.

Careers

From 1959 to 1962, Johnstone began designing and constructing sailboats while teaching history at the Millbrook School. He became a yacht broker, operating a brokerage in Stonington and soon took a career as a planner for the submarine builder,

Electric Boat Co. General Dynamics Electric Boat (GDEB) is a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation. It has been the primary builder of submarines for the United States Navy for more than 100 years. The company's main facilities are a shipyard in Groton, Co ...

. He also sold Soundings ads from 1970 to 1977. In 1988, Johnstone and his nephew, Clay Burkhalter, went on to co-found Johnstone Yachts, Inc. to produce his JY 15 sailboat designs.

J/Boats

Johnstone, along with his brother, has owned the boat builder " J/Boats" since 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnstone, Rod 1937 births American sailors Boat builders Living people