Southern Spars One Design complete 500th J/70 rig

by Sail-World on 4 Sep 2014 With just over a week to go until the inaugural J/70 World Championship, the team from Southern Spars One Design are celebrating the build of the 500th J/70 carbon mast at their facility in Sri Lanka.

'The first J/70 prototype rig was tested in 2011. The first five rigs were delivered in 2012 and now here we are two years later having just completed rig #500! That is a huge feat and a great milestone to achieve in such a short space of time for the team in Sri Lanka', says One Design Manager Jamie Waters.

The J/70 Speedster at 22.75 feet is the first ramp-launchable keelboat from the J/Boats team, designed to fulfil the growing need for an easy-to-own, high performance one design boat that is exciting to sail, forgiving enough for the whole family and built to last.

'From the initial design and engineering phase, to sea-trialing of hull #1, and now 500+ boats later, Southern Spars has been a great industry partner for us and has played a valuable role in the success of the J/70', says Jeff Johnstone of J/Boats.

'The complete J/70 rig package - mast, boom and bowsprit - is constructed of standard modulus carbon fibre, filament wound and finished in Durepox matt black. The carbon spreaders are bladder moulded, which is the same tested method used to produce the Volvo Ocean 65’ spreaders. The mast was engineered to withstand the rigors of one-design sailing whilst being easy enough to tune to suit sailors in all weight categories', says Waters.

'The success of the J70 class in such a short space of time is nothing short of phenomenal! Southern Spars is proud to have worked with the J/Boats team from the start of this project and I just want to wish all of the J/70 sailors out there good times and awesome sailing!

Congratulations to all involved!' says Caitlin Moore, Southern Spars One Design Account Manager.