J/121 is a boat of the bucket list design and it is a new option for those who wish to tackle adventure races in style, in comfort rather than simply focusing on winning. Jeff Johnstone, owner of J/Boats, talks about this new boat design and its capabilities. There are many J boat owners who are queuing up to trade their former vessels for a J/121. These boats are in the construction phase and are designed to be used for adventure races without the need for an extensive crew or when point to point racing is not the requirement.
Johnstone states that the trend of races in the present such as the Three Bridge Fiasco which occurred in San Francisco or the Fastnet race as well as Chicago Mac are examples of adventure races that are short handed and it is mostly about the experience than who wins or loses. Hence this boat has been designed accordingly. In the below deck section the layout is functional and compact but also includes comfort elements. The boat is designed to work with a five member crew. There are water ballast tanks that can take care of rail meat as well as the usual need to have extra hands to get the sails up or down. This is due to headsails that are provided which are mostly on roller fullers and there are inventory that hang from halyard locks and are rigged on along with furling lines and sheets that spill onto the cockpit.
This is a classic
J boat design that incorporates all necessary functionalities and would work nicely in different sailing conditions. There is a tradeoff between the numbers of people you want on board as compared to the water ballast benefits obtained with less weight on board.