15 mai 2010 |
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The J105, still shrink-wrapped, on her cradle and her roll-on roll-off shipping platform Chantecler; why another J/105? why a French-built boat?First, I wanted to increase my sailing and racing time. For two plus years, my team and myself had been racing J105 hull #208 Jay Boat and had become familiar with the J/105, but we had the boat for only about 50% of the races because my partner and I had decided to have two separate racing teams. I looked at comparable boats and decided to stay with the J-105 because of its asymmetric on sprit and its ease of racing with a small crew. I did not particularly like the boat performance in light air, but despite that, the J/105 was the best answer to my needs. I got interested in the French-built J/105 when J-Boats announced that they had partnered with J Composite to built JBoats in France. In December 2000, while in France for a family visit, I went to the Paris Boat Show and discovered that the French-built J/105s had a better-designed cabin and were sold in France at a good price (when converted to dollars), which made shipment accross the Atlantic economically feasible. Furthermore, it seemed to be better suited for offshore races with two spinnaker halyards, two jib halyards and a stronger-looking mast. I knew that J/35s, with similar hulls, had been quite successful offshore. I wanted to prepare the boat for the Annapolis-Bermuda race in particular. So, I ordered and took delivery of hull #536 in France in June 2001 and shipped it right away to Baltimore. The boat was built by J Composite, but the company has since been renamed J/Europe. The arrival at Baltimore
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