J-class Yacht - The 1930s

The 1930s

The J-Class is a development of Nathanael Herreshoff's Universal Rule for racing boats. It was established in 1929, two years after it was agreed amongst American yacht clubs that the International Rule would be used for 12-metre class boats and smaller. As a result the Universal Rule was retained for large boats in the United States and the 1930s America's Cup regattas were all raced in the J-Class.

Following Sir Thomas Lipton's near success in the 1920 America's Cup, he challenged again for the last time at age 79, in 1929. The challenge drew all the novelties developed in the previous decade on small boats to be ported onto large boats, and pitted British and American yacht design in a technological race. Between 1930 and 1937, the improvements brought to the design of sailboats were numerous and significant:

• the high-aspect bermuda rig replaces the gaff rig on large sailboats
• solid-rod lenticular rigging for shrouds and stays
• luff and foot grooved spars with rail and slides replacing wooden hoops
• multiplication of spreader sets: one set previously (1914), two sets (1930), three sets (1934), four sets (1937)
• multiplication of the number of winches: 23 winches, Enterprise (1930)
• electrical navigational instruments borrowed from aeronautics with repeaters for windvane and anemometer, Whirlwind (1930)
• "Park Avenue" boom (Enterprise, 1930) and "North Circular" boom (Rainbow, 1934) developed to trim mainsail foot
• riveted aluminium mast (4,000 lb (1,800 kg), Duralumin), Enterprise (1930)
• Genoa Jib (Rainbow, 1934) and quadrangular jib (Endeavour, 1934)
• development of nylon parachute (symmetric) spinnakers, including the World's largest at 18,000 sq ft (1,700 m2) on Endeavour II (1936)
• Duralumin wing-mast, Ranger (1937)

All these improvements would not have been possible without the context of the America's Cup. The competition was a bit unfair because the British challengers had to be constructed in the country of the Challenging Yacht Club (a criterion still in use today), and had to sail on their own hull to the venue of the America's Cup (a criterion no longer in use today): The design for such an undertaking required the challenging boat to be more seaworthy than the American boats, whose design was purely for speed in closed waters' regattas. The yachts that remain in existence are all British, and probably log more nautical miles today than they ever did. This would not have been possible if Charles Ernest Nicholson did not obtain unlimited budgets to achieve the quality of build for these yachts. Yacht designer Clinton Hoadley Crane noted in his memoires that "America's Cup racing has never led to good sportsmanship. The attitude of the New York Yacht Club has been more that of a man in the forward position at war who has been ordered to hold his position at all costs – at all costs." In 1930, Thomas Lipton spent $1,000,000 for his Shamrock V challenge when America was facing a stock market crash, but the NYYC still built four cup defenders. The rivalry lead both countries to put a display of true technological demonstrators using the maximum load waterline length authorised by the rule for Endeavour II and Ranger in 1937. This seems to concur with J. P. Morgan's famous quote about yachts: "If you have to ask how much it costs, you cannot afford it."

Most J-Class yachts were scrapped prior or during World War II because steel and lead had become precious to the war effort. In the post-war era, J-Class racing was deemed far too expensive, so no challenge for the America's Cup was placed until 1958 with the smaller third International Rule 12mR class. A revival of the J-Class was triggered in the 1980s when Elizabeth Meyer oversaw the refits of Endeavour and Shamrock V.