Left: the completed hull of J11 emerges at the Bloemsma shipyard. Based upon a 1937 Tore Holm design, J11 will be among the sleekest of today’s growing (sic!) J-Class fleet with an almost flush deck making her particularly easy on the eye. So a real day racer in the spirit of the original J-Class… J11 will actually carry a sensible interior in order not to disrupt the excellent competitive equilibrium in today’s closely-match fleet… J8 (opposite, top) and her successor J9 will feature the longest ever waterlines in the class (88ft) at the expense of some sail area. In the spirit of a former America’s Cup class (above), today’s J-Class designs undergo the full range of CFD and FEA analysis
also offers improved privacy for the owners with direct access from the master cabin. Staying with the theme of ergo - nomics, on Lionheart the helm is situated in between the aft deckhouse and the main cockpit with the primaries and mainsheet winches close by, making it possible to have the centre of command operating without headsets and offering excellent visibility for the trimmers and helmsman. Lionheart has to date proved to be exceptional on the racecourse, winning the King’s 100 Guinea Cup in 2012 in what was only her second regatta. In 2014 her winning streak continued, taking the J-Class trophies at Mahon, Palma and Sar- dinia, with the owner at the helm and Volvo race skipper Bouwe Bekking calling tactics.
The successes of Lionheart have led in turn to two more Hoek Design J-Class yachts (J8 and J11) that are currently being built and a fourth one in design (J9). Developed on the basis of the hull lines of the longest waterline J-Class ever designed, a Super-J by Frank Paine, but also one that was never built, J8 is currently under construction at Holland Jachtbouw and is due for launch in spring 2015. Her stunning lines have been fine- tuned and optimised for racing under the JCA rules, with extensive CFD studies carried out to gain a better insight into lee- way angles, rudder size, helm balance and sail plan design. Her Art Deco interior – very appropriate to the time of her original design in 1935 – is being designed
in-house, and will feature a striking combi- nation of makassar, leather, stainless steel, white overheads and walnut floors. J11, meanwhile, is based on the hull lines originally designed by Tore Holm in 1937 which were discovered in 1999 by John Lammerts van Bueren while research- ing 8 Metre plans. Known as Svea, she is arguably aesthetically the most beautiful of all the Js and her hull is now under con- struction at Bloemsma in the Netherlands, part of Claasen Shipyards. Bloemsma has been responsible for building the hulls of Lionheart, Rainbow, J8 and J9 and, not surprisingly, is now established as the specialists in these complicated craft. J11 has been designed with an almost flush deck and two cockpits, an optimal layout for racing and close to what these yachts would have looked like in the past, with a lot of effort going into developing her performance, structure and looks. There is no doubt she will be a seriously headturning yacht on the water. The latest J-Class presently in design and development by Hoek Design for Holland Jachtbouw is known as J9. The design, based on a lines plan by Frank Paine and similar to J8, has a single deckhouse with a large cockpit and a separate small helms- man’s cockpit aft. Frank Paine made his name with Yankee, the only one of the smaller Js that could compete against, and win, with the Super Js. During the research phase of this project J9 showed to be extremely competitive and promising in both pure speed and on handicap. She is slightly different from J8 with a larger keel. J8 and J9 were both designed for Mr Lambert in 1936 as possible defenders for the 1937 America’s Cup. Mr Lambert also owned the three-masted schooner Atlantic along with the J-Class Yankee and was in the mood to build a new J-Class to defend the Cup, but Harold Vanderbilt won the right to defend, largely on the back of his two previously successful Cup campaigns which he had won with Enterprise and Rainbow. Uniquely for J8 and J9, Frank Paine opted for a longer waterline length of 88ft instead of 87ft and was to accept a penalty on sail area. Today, however, the handicap system is very different and this could be an advantage for both J8 and J9. Ultimately, CFD in J-Class yachts has been one of the main reasons these magnif- icent sailing boats are improving all the time, both in development of sails and hull appendages. We know much more today about leeway and rudder angles before the boat even hits the water, along with using Rig Edge software to optimise the rigging and sail configurations. However, apart from today’s different software and design experience, hands-on experience remains crucial for us to understand the loads and deck layouts, along with valuable input from the professional race crew. Our team members can regularly be found onboard today’s J-Class fleet during the training and racing of these magnificent vessels. Andre Hoek
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