J Class Secretary, John Hanks and his J 24 Ranger Contact me: John4jboats@npgcable.com.
J Class Secretary Report as published in Model Yachting 162 Nov. 2010
John T. Hanks lll J Class Secretary
As I write this the 2010 J Class NCR is being sailed in Chicago. The event should have about thirteen J yachts competing for the winning honors. This year's regatta in the upper Midwest has sparked additional J interest in that area with five boats being registered so they would b able to sail in the national event. Moving the NCR to different areas the country has been very helpful in generating additional interest in the J Class.
Now that 2010 event is completed, it is time to begin planning for the 2011J Class NCR. The locations over the last 4 years were San Antonio, Texas (2007), Mystic Seaport CT, (2008), Sacramento CA (2009), and this year 2010 Chicago, Ill. <edit> Following the pattern, this would move the regatta back to the New England area where the greatest number of J Class models are registered, but any club/venue is welcome to submit a proposal for hosting the event.
Financially the J Class is doing well. I registered five new boats and received a transfer for one other model this year, bringing revenue for the year to $42.00. including the ending balance for last year of $96.00 that brings the total available cash to $138.16. The expenses for this year were postage, $19.06; and copying, $18.33; for a total of #37.39. That leaves an ending cash balance of $100.77. While not the most wealthy class in the AMYA, we are doing fine and are able to meet the needs of the class owners who are looking for information about the Js.
I have completed a video on how to lay a plank deck on your J model. While the video uses a J as the subject, the video should be helpful to anyone wishing to lay a plank deck on a model yacht. I would like to thank Bob Eger and his son-in-law Mark for their help in making the video a reality.
I am currently building a plank-on-frame model of Endeavour II and am filming the construction sequence from beginning with the drawings and ending with model on the water. It will be sometime before this video is available as the filming interferes with the building on occasion. When it is completed, it should be a big help to the skipper who wishes to scratch build a plank-on-frame J model. My hope is that the two videos will remove some of the mystery surrounding the scratch building of a J yacht. and encourage interested skippers to build their models.
Dean Derusha has release his line of authentic licensed miniature HARKEN blocks. <edit> This is a welcome addition to model sailing in general and to sale builders specifically. While the blocks are not only identical to their full-sized counterparts, they are fully functional ball-bearing blocks. There are many more fittings avilable from Dean as well. Dean can be contacted at MiniatureHarken@yahoo.com for more information. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have questions about a J Class model. I will do all that I can to help you with any portion of your project.
J Class Secretary Report as published in Model Yachting 161 August, 2010
John T. Hanks lll J Class Secretary
This year's J Class NCR will be hosted by the Chicago MYC. The regatta is scheduled for September 25-26 at the Century Park pond in Vernon Hills, just North of Chicago. This should be a great event and all J Class skippers are urged to attend. The J Class experienced a reversal of growth this year. We have lost some skippers who failed to renew their AMYA membership for 2010. I have spoken to other Class Secretaries and they have experienced the same thing with the primary cause being attributed to the poor economy. In doing a review of the registered owners, I have found that some owners have also not reported J ownership when renewing their AMYA membership. I urge you to check the Class Owned box on your renewal form as it is a very useful tracking took for me in helping to maintain the class records.
On a brighter note there is still interest in the J Class expressed by non-owners . I have sent information on the J class as far away as South African and know that there are several boats being built in Washing State and another two in California. I continue to receive requests for information on the class from across the country and there seems to be a growing interest in Europe. I will continue to provide as much support to the class as I am capable.
Issue #161of Model Yachting contains the 2010 AMYA ballot. There are two motions that affect the J Class on the ballot. The first is a revision of the J Class Rules and the second controls the roach allowance of the sails. The first motion accomplishes a couple of things. First it clarifies some areas of the existing rules that were vague and second it allows any yacht that was built as a J or converted to the J Class in the 1930's to be modeled and legal in the AMYA J Class. This double the selection of yachts that the potential J modeler can choose from when building a J model. I urge all J owners to vote for passage of both the J Class motions.
I offer my services to any modeler who is interested in building a J model, whether plank on frame or starting with a fiberglass hull. If you have any questions or need help with the building process, do not hesitate to contact me. I will provide as much information as I can to assist you with your project.
J Class Secretary Report as published in Model Yachting 159 May, 2010
John T. Hanks lll J Class Secretary
2009 has been a very good year for the J class. I received either registrations or transfers for 15 J's in 2009.
The J Class had 2 events in August, the first in Bristol, RI was the Region 1 Championship and drew 13 boats, and only 2 weeks later 11 boats got on the water at Mystique, CT for an event there. Sacramento, CA was the site of the 2009 NCR in October rounding out a year with 3 events is the largest we have seen in some time, and continuing club events in Marblehead, MA has led to much of the increased interest in the class.
Following the NCR in Sacramento I received inquires from four skippers in Region 6 interested in building J boats. This is the response that I had hoped for in moving the NCR around the country and exposing skippers to the class who would not otherwise have been able to see and sail a J model. Exposure equals growth !
Along those lines the dates and location for the 2010 J NCR have been finalized. The regatta will be hosted by the Chicago RC Model Yacht Club on September 25th and 26th. The event will be sailed at the Century Park located in Vernon Hills, a suburb about 20 miles north of Chicago. The park is easily accessible from the Interstate system and has a nice selection of accommodations and restaurants at reasonable prices. For additional information contact Gerhard Kelter at (312) 424-0600 or email at scanlex@aol.com
There will also be a Region 1 Championship Regatta scheduled in 2010. I do not have the dates or location yet and as soon as I get more information I will include it in my next J column and have it posted here. For more information about this event contact Chuck Luscomb at (860) 526-4676 or email at Region-1ct@modelyacht.org.
Stated below are the J Class finances for year end 2009. While we are a small class we are solvent and it looks like we will stay that way.
Beginning Balance $167.00
Income
10 New Registrations & 5 Transfers 105.00
Total Funds $272.00
Expenses
Registration Cards a & Hull Stickers $74.06
Printing 61.03
Postage 40.75
Total Expenses $175.84
Net Balance $ 96.16
The Registration Cards and Hull Stickers are no longer provided by the AMYA so each class must provide their own. I ran out (because we have been registering boats!) so had to have some printed, 100 minimum, so my supply should last a few years. As a service to the class and prospective class members I provide drawings, construction information and general class information from my personal library of J information and that is included in the printing and postage expenses in addition to the mailings for the registrations.
Doug Worting is developing a line of mast fittings suitable for gooseneck and vang attachments machined out of aluminum that fit the Ludwig extruded masts. You can reach Doug at (717) 579-1772 or email at tekebird@yahoo.com for more information about the fittings.
I would like to thank all of the fitting, hardware and hull manufacturers that have come on board in the last couple of years. You have made a large contributor to the J Class growth in the last several of years. The ability of a skipper to build a J model has been greatly simplified through your contributions to the class.
I look forward to seeing you at the pond.
December 2008
2009 is looking like it will be a great year after the
great boost we had in 2008. I have registered 5 new Js in 5 months so far this
year. The interest is distributed across the country with located 2 in WI, and
1 each in CA, VT and IL. As I write this I am waiting on a registration from WA
and have received several inquiries about the Js from other sources in WA. It
appears that the 2009 NCR scheduled for Sacramento, CA in October has spurred
interest in the west.
The availability of glass hulls and suitable masts and spars form manufacturers
has greatly helped the growth of the class. The glass hull shortens the build
time for your J by about 150 hours. This is a great incentive for the builder to
get his model ready for the water in a relatively short time.
There are two big events scheduled this year. On the east coast the Region
Championship is scheduled for August 6 through 9 at the Herreshoff Marine Museum
in Bristol, RI. The second event is the 2009 National Championship Regatta
scheduled for October 3 and 4 in Sacramento, CA. This will give J skippers on
both coasts a chance to compete in a top rated event. Look for more information
on these two events under NOTICE OF RACE button on this website.
Either event will be a wonderful demonstration of the J models and there should
be a sizable selection of models to study. Even if you do not own a J but are
just interested please attend. The J owners love to talk about their models and
are a wealth of information.
I am looking forward to seeing you in Sacramento in October.
John T. Hanks lll J24
AMYA J Class Secretary
2008 is in the can, and what a year for the Class. We saw more boat production this year than any year to date. I believe no less than 16 new boats hit the water this year and we have no less than 4 molds currently producing hulls for new skippers. This year saw the return to the Mystic Seaport Museum for the NCR with Bruce Walton sailing a borrowed Ranger take top honors. International activity is increasing as well as hulls and plans/parts are being shipped to Europe, South American and even Asia. While it's doubtful that anyone will be traveling with such large models for racing events, it does provide a sense of pride that our class is viewed with such favor around the world. 2009 looks to top last year with multiple events in New England, the NCR on the West coast again, this time in Sacramento and it has already sparked the construction of at least 3 new boats on the West coast.
2007 was a great year for the J class, and appears to only be the beginning. More activity is the norm now and boats are being started and completed coast to coast. Boats increased steadily throughout 2007 and as we go into 2008 there is no slowing down. The hulls are being shipped for the first time to Europe, and there are requests for quotes and information going to the Far East and South America as well.
GRP Shamrock
Blue Crab Shamrock
Sennott Endeavor
Sennott Whirlwind
Sennott Ranger
(pictured below is the new Ranger plug under construction, now completed and supplying hulls to the class)
There was at one time, a Rainbow mold somewhere on the East coast, a Ranger mold in Miami, Kem Dunnebacke has a Ranger mold in North Carolina that produced a couple of boats in time for the 2005 NCR held there. There are more than a dozen new Endeavor hulls that have been built now and several Shamrock hulls also, along with the new Ranger and Whirlwind. The plan is for the next NCR to be held in 2009 in Sacramento, and there are already several boats already sailing on the West coast with several more being built now.
The drawings for all the boats in our class are available in one for or another. Some cases such as Ranger the complete plans are available since the boat was built in Bath Maine, the original drawings still exist and we have a complete laminated plan sheet available for this boat. Others are not quite as well documented and we are in the process now of having the plans converted to digital files so that they can be made available to skippers that wish to build their own hulls/boats from them. and making them available here on the website with proceeds to go to the class treasury.
If you have information or pictures involving the J Class I urge you to send them to the webmaster here so that the we can keep the website up to date and as current as possible.