J/24

In the summer of 1975 Rodney Johnstone designed and built hull number 1 in his garage in Stonington, Connecticut. "Ragtime" would serve as the master mold for the subsequent hulls. This design allowed him to start the very successful J-Boat company with his brother Bob Johnstone. By 1978 the class was popular enough to hold a one-design regatta in Key West with twenty boats on the line.[9]

Early boats (hull numbers up to 3000) need a lot of work to rebuild their keel shape (move material forward) to make them point and sail fast in light wind. These older boats can be modified if one wants a competitive J/24. New boat manufacturing has been done by multiple companies around the world in UK, France (only 5), Croatia, USA, Italy and Argentina.[10] In the US, J/24s are built by US Watercraft. Italy could still build new boats.

As of January 2009, approximately 5,475[11] J/24s have been produced. Approximately 20 new boats were produced in 2008. The average price of a complete, new boat without sails was approximately £20,000. (31,370 USD)[11]

The international authority for the class is World Sailing, which shall cooperate with the International J/24 Class Association on all matters regarding these rules. Interpretations of these rules shall be made by the ISAF, which in coming to its decision may consult the International J/24 Class Association and the copyright holder.[2]

The International J24 Class Association (IJCA) has the sole authority worldwide for the conduct and management of the International J/24 Class. The IJCA Constitution, the By-laws and other regulations are binding on all members, and all registered J/24s shall conform to Class Rules and any limitations imposed by the IJCA and ISAF.[12] IJCA is a "not-for-profit" organization.

Current rules (as well as the history of changes) for the International J/24 Class is available from World Sailing web site[13]

The J/24 is no longer considered the most modern sailboat in its class, but it is still a very popular sailboat among keelboat racers. While some of the world's best J/24 sailors have the latest version J/24, a well-prepared 1977 model, built to the same shape and weight with rigid end-grained balsa core construction can still win sailing the class world championship even after 30,000+ miles of trailering.[3] This is one of the many advantages of One-Design sailing that the J/24 is benefitting from.

Another reason for its popularity is that it is fairly easy and inexpensive to acquire a used boat and gear due to the large number of boats produced. There are 136 active fleets in the US alone,[14] which offer a lot of race competition. This makes the J/24 a popular boat for beginners and experienced sailors.

J24 sailing downwind in San Francisco bay

Related development

• J/22
• J/27
• J/32

Similar sailboats

• Achilles 24
• Albin Express
• C&C 24
• C&C SR 25
• Challenger 24
• Kirby 25
• O'Day 25
• Merit 25
• Mirage 24
• Nutmeg 24
• San Juan 24
• Seidelmann 245
• Tanzer 25
• Tonic 23
• US Yachts US 25

Wikimedia Commons has media related to J/24 (keelboat).

• International J/24 Class Association
• USA J/24 Class Association
• List of all national J/24 Class Associations
• J-Boat Website