J/111

J/111 NEWEST ADDITION TO NS CLASS SAIL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

The J-111 is the newest addition to North’s Class Sail Development program. With over 50 boats sold in the first year and 8 of the first ten going to North Sails clients, our teams of skilled sail designers and consultants have jumped into an accelerated research and sail testing program to ensure that our clients get the fastest proven sails right from the start of the 2011 sailing season. With boats delivered in late summer 2010, in the Great Lakes, San Diego and Nova Scotia, we have been able to test the performance of a range of upwind and downwind designs and get a nice handle on this great new J-Boat.

Perry Lewis (North's Midwest expert) jumped right in with Hull #2 and our first generation of sails. The class rules were not finalized at this time which gave us the ability and flexibility to give our feedback to the Jeff and Stu Johnstone to further optimize the rule and make changes to the next series for Hull 3.

During the first week in November, we conducted a three-day session with our Farr 40 expert, Dave Scott, North’s veteran spinnaker designer David Hirsch, and John Gladstone from the San Diego loft to work on rig tuning and matching designs to fit a range of conditions from 5-12 kts.

Simultaneously, in the other corner of the country, Andreas Josenhans (Swan 45 and 42 CSD PRG advisor), along with Sandy MacMillan from North’s Atlantic site in Halifax, put the J-111 through the heavier air drills with Perry’s sails to help come up with rig and tune settings that would complement the work being done in San Diego.

Following these sessions, J/111 Class Leader Gladstone, Lewis, MacMillan, AJ and Scott put their collective tuning notes together with designers Chris Williams, Rich Bowen (upwind) and David Hirsch (downwind) to come up with finalized designs models for the new season. This includes the latest edition mainsail for the sole J-111 racing in the 2011 Key West Race Week. “The process of coming up with a fast product has never been as smooth”, claims Scott, who has plenty to compare with having been a part of the Farr 40 sail development program for nearly 15 years. “I am confident we have the best developed J-111 sails a customer could ask for due to the coordination of our efforts in all parts of the country. Who else can say that?” In the coming months we will be adding to this site with J/111 news and product developments. In the meantime, please feel free to contact John Gladstone for more information on the hot new class.

John Gladstone is the J/111 class leader within North Sails. John has been sailing the J/111 from the start of the class. Browse through the CSD site and feel free to contact John with any questions from tuning to class rules and everything in between. He can also help you find the J/111 expert nearest you!