Monday, October 11, 2010

Return of the J Boats


Meaning the J Class sloops of the 1930's (Universal Rule).
One industry that is booming, despite economic conditions: The building of J boats.
They ran out of existing hulls to restore (Shamrock, Endeavor, Valsheeda) Then they started to recreate ones that had been scrapped long ago. (Ranger, and now, most recently, Yankee)
But, for the super rich, the idea of owning your own unique J boat is so irresistable, that they are now building ones that really never existed, except on paper. The published brief on this one (called Lionheart) is a little confusing to me. But it sounds as though this may have been the design that Olin Stephens submitted for Ranger. At the time it was thought to be too radical; The one that was finally used was from Starling Burgess. So they are, in perenthesis, calling this 'Ranger II'.

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