This J/109 is a Sweet Chariot

'J109 Sweet Chariot down wind' J-Boats

J-Boats are highly regarded around the world. The J/24 is very popular in Australia and the J/105 and J/120 One Design fleets are amongst the largest in North America. One of the more recent models is certainly making waves internationally and has now arrived in Australia.

The 35 foot J/109 has proven itself a winner under IRC and there are now an astonishing 57 J/109’s in the UK. The class start arranged for Skandia Cowes Week 2006 bears witness to the success of this class since it’s launch four years ago.

Between 20 and 25 J/109’s are expected at the event and the racing will be one-design, boat-on-boat, in accordance with the strict J/109 Class Rules.

Now the J/109 has arrived down-under and British expatriates Ray and Sandra Entwhistle’s Sweet Chariot is turning heads on Sydney Harbour, proving it’s a clean and quick IRC racer/cruiser.

Ray Entwhistle explains why they chose the J/109.

‘We migrated to Australia because of sailing. I’d been out here before sailing on the harbour and we just fell in love with the place. Sandra and I sailed dinghies in the UK and we came out to live in Australia in November 1999.

‘We bought an Adams 10.6, Adamant, which we raced out of Greenwich Flying Squadron.

‘Last year Sandra and I decided we wanted a boat we could both cruise and race, so we started our research. We knew from friends in the UK that the J109 was a ‘stand out’ and as dinghy sailors we loved the carbon fibre retractable bowsprit and asymmetric spinnakers.

‘It’s a two cabin interior layout with standing headroom. She has an excellent power to weight ratio and excellent stability for relaxed cruising when the racing crew is not aboard. The halyards and reef lines are cockpit led, mainsheet controls are within reach of the wheel and inboard sheeting tracks permit the use of both overlapping and non-overlapping headsails.

‘We’ve got an excellent set of North’s sails; a 120sqm running asymmetric and a 90sqm runner. We’ve got Norths 3DL, a light number 1, a medium heavy number 1, a number 3 and a number 4. We’ve found her easy to sail and the crew love her.’

Just as well. The boat was on the water in late December and with just two hours of sailing and a crew being introduced to each other on the way to a start line, Sweet Chariot performed perfectly ‘out of the box’ at the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club’s Regatta.

Entwhistle explained the debut performances of Sweet Chariot. ‘After Christmas and some unplanned work commitments, we left Sydney to sail the boat to Pittwater, ready for the J/109’s debut, the two day Palm Beach series, the first part of the Pittwater and Coffs Regatta.

‘We found she was a joy on the water, light and responsive and easy to sail. The four races over the following two days were sailed from a drifter to fifteen knots and from the beginning the boat felt responsive and on-the-pace. The J109 was beating larger boats on the water and therefore scoring very well on handicap. Sweet Chariot scored a fifth, first, second and third to ultimately win the regatta.

‘Then we did the Australia Day Cup, where we were sixth over the line and first on handicap. There were a lot of big boats in that fleet. Looking around we appeared to be one of the smallest boats there, especially when we saw Braveheart and the Sydney 60 and a couple of 44.7s and the like.’

A few weeks later Sweet Chariot won the Australian Day regatta, followed that up with a win at the North Sydney Cup and then won her division in the Palm Beach regatta. In between times she has been a regular winner in the Greenwich and Drummoyne Twilight series.

Twilight sailing on Sweet Chariot J-Boats .

Entwhistle continues, ‘the crew love sailing the boat, it is easy to sail and the luxury fit out is just fantastic. People go down (below) and they don’t expect what is below. They look at the results on one hand and the luxury fit out on the other hand, and they just can’t believe it. We are over the moon with it’s performance.’


For more information contact Mark Dent from J Boats Australia, +61 2 9566 1355
mark@jboats.com.au

www.jboats.com.au

by Al Constable