J Class Secretary, John Hanks and his J 24 Ranger Contact me: John4jboats@npgcable.com.
J Class Secretary Report as published in Model Yachting 159
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.