J/Boats new 36 foot speedster, the J/111 arrives in Sydney

by Sandra Entwistle on 20 Jul 2011 J/Boats new 36 foot speedster, the J/111, arrives in Sydney for its Australian debut at the Sydney International Boat Show. The J/111 was designed to put the fun back into sailing.

She's sleek, easy to handle and fast. She accelerates quickly, slices to windward at 7+ knots and hits double-digit speeds downwind.

The J/111 is light and responsive on the helm and all the controls (main, fine tune, traveller, hydraulic backstay) are in easy reach of the helmsman. She has a retractable carbon sprit to fly assy kites. The sprit is 8ft long enabling you to run at 170+ degrees as it gets the kite away from the shadow of the main. The hull is resin-infused making it strong and light, yet tough for our challenging Australian conditions.

Even the mast is a thing of beauty - she has the very latest in engineering excellence using Hall Spars single-piece seamless construction combined with carbon nanotube technology. Zyvex Corporation's Arovex is a new line of carbon nanotube pre-pregs made to Halls specifications just for the J/111.

The 36ft J/111 is receiving rave reviews worldwide. J/111's are already sailing in ten countries on five continent - a remarkably strong debut for the next generation international one-design off the J drawing boards and the first J to go ‘global’ in less than twelve months!

The Sydney based J/111 managed to squeeze in one race before the show, and she's living up to her reputation. Whilst still in tune-up and sail testing mode, she beat local well sailed 40 footers by 11 minutes in an 88 minute harbour race. The owners can't wait to get her offshore to stretch her legs. In the recent prestigious 'Round the Isle of Wight' 56nm race, the one day old J/111 'Shmoking Joe' finished first in its fleet of 125 yachts in IRC Div 1A.

The J/111 will be on display alongside her little sister, the J/80, at the Sydney International Boat Show from 28 July to 01 August.