Sailing has been traditionally the greenest of all forms of transportation on th
e water. Unfortunately, diesel or gas powered boats can travel faster and are less dependent on the influence of the weather. But there is a new trend, one that looks back at the old J-Class yachts from about 100 years ago. Impressive sailing yachts with very tall masts and a sail area as large as possible to be faster than the competition.
Renaissance of the modern J-Class.
The traditional J-Class yachts were build to for the sailing challenges between the British and American, what we now would call, captains of industry. J-Class yachts were build between 1930 and 1937 both in the UK as well as in the USA. Famous yachts are Shamrock V (1930, England), Velsheda (1933, England), Rainbow (1934, USA) and Endeavour (1934, England). The elegance of the yachts, originally purely build for racing, is probably one of the reasons why this class has again gained some much attention in the last 1 or 2 decades. It is now surprise that after renovating or rebuilding the famous old J-Class yachts, new designs would be based on the the J-Class.
Modern J-Class design “Renaissance”
Charterworld shows the modern design based of the traditional J-Class yachts from George Wolstenholme. The line of this new design is clearly based on the old J-Class designs, but with many modern influences. For some people this will be too modern, look for example the the windows next to the mast. I find this a great idea to get more light in the boat, but not everyone will be as impressed.
A modern touch means that modern day captains of industry can be interested for this new design and breathtaking.
Renaissance of a J-class. What a beauty!
Renewable energy
Attention for the tradition of sailing is always a good sign. Sailing is one of the oldest ways to get around, especially over larger distances, and of course without any pollution or noise. It is not feasible for many large transport vessels to put masts again, but it is interesting to see what progress is made, both from a design point of view as well as from a technical point of view.