J 45, OUTSTANDING ON THE FIRST TEST

In this difficult covid time, boat tests become less frequent, but curiously in Europe boat sales experienced a boom and boat prices are on the rise. This has not only to do with a bigger demand but also with the difficulty in finding parts and the general rise in the cost of raw materials (wood, resin, fibers). This had as consequence the increase in time needed for the delivery of a new boat that, in some cases, passed from one to two years.

And since tests became rare, a J45 test is big news, especially when it is made by Michael Good one of the more experienced test sailors in the world, and published by the biggest world's sail magazine, Yacht.de. It seems Michael was really impressed by the yacht, saying that it "can set standards in what regards fast cruising" and referring to the excellent work in the interior design by Isabelle Racoupeau, which, he says, provides a very pleasant and comfortable high-quality luminous interior.

Regarding sailing, he is not only impressed as he talks about being " fully convinced" and that the yacht provides the "best sailing properties", with a great cockpit, that is comfortable for cruising or for racing. The full test is not yet on the press but I rarely heard such a laudatory introduction.

You can download it here when it is available:

https://www.yacht.de/yachten_jollen/neue_boote/j-45-die-ersten-fotos-vom-yacht-test

In what concerns sailing, the "fully convinced" assumes another dimension, given the unusual transom and hull shape of the J45 for a modern cruiser-racer, that many would say is outdated. The recent incredible performance of a J99 on the Sydney Hobart (see the previous article) and the J112E title of World ORC champion in 2021 and 2018, as well as the IRC champion in 2018, show that this type of hull is far from being outdated, in what regards performance and we are not talking about handicap performance because in all these cases the J/boats performed also admirably in elapsed time.

The excellent sailing performance was something that I already predicted and expected, but it is always good to see previsions becoming reality. You can learn more about the J 45 in two other posts:

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2020/12/j-45e-new-performance-cruiser-by-jboats.html

https://interestingsailboats.blogspot.com/2021/10/j45-in-detail.html 

Since sail performance seems to be stellar, liking or not the boat shape and finding it beautiful or not is, as always, a question of personal taste, but what seems not to make much sense is to justify that taste by judging the hull shape as outdated. 

Well, certainly with a classic taste, but in the face of performance, outdated it is not, because what determines if a hull shape is outdated is the performance and clearly this yacht has a top performance, as the J99 or the J112e, that share more or less similarly designed transoms.

Note that the transom design, as part of the hull, can be maximized for different points of sail or different wind conditions. Clearly, this one is maximized for light wind sailing and upwind sailing but the hull is surprisingly beamy (you would not say that looking at the boat) and that, with the help of a very considerable ballast (42%B/D), will provide a lot of power for beam reaching, especially considering than the drag will be less than in other types of hulls.

Beamy for a performance boat, but we have seen recently that a beamy boat can be very fast and successful even in races with equal upwind and downwind distances. The also new Grand Soleil 44 has won the last ORC World Championship and it is even slightly beamier than the J 45 (4.27 to 4.25).

If we compare the J45 4.25m beam with the ones of the new very successful tendency for very beamy cruisers, like the Hanse 460  (4.79m beam and 200 boats in order or already sold), we would have to consider the J45 as having a moderate beam. Only if we compare it with performance cruisers will it be among the beamier ones, if we don't consider boats like Pogo, that are maximized for trade wind sailing. The Pogo 44 (42ft) has already a 4.50m beam.

If we compare the J 45 hull with the one of the GS44 we will see that the main difference between them is not the max beam or the design of the forward hull sections but the hull sections from midships to the transom and the transom design, that condition those sections.

I am very curious to see how these two boats compare in real-time while racing in different conditions and points of sail, as well as seeing as they compare with the slightly small new Italia 12.98, which has opted for a much narrower hull (3.95m) with a transom design not far from the one of the GS.

I would have preferred the J45 to have a slightly different transom, one that would offer more hull form stability at very high angles of heel, without increasing drag at smaller angles, something in between the GS44 transom and the J 45, but there are among performance cruisers many yachts whose transoms look apparently more modern, when in reality compromise performance much more in favor of style and interior space.

Regarding cruising, I have no doubt that this will be one of the fastest performance cruisers around, and not only does the interior look very good and cozy but the yacht looks distinctively different, with a classical overall look, that will deceive many about its top performance.

I do really like a lot this boat and the only thing I would change in what regards looks would be the deck finish, using grey kiwigrip. I believe it would be the right finish for this boat. 

Probably they would have no problem in applying that and it is a pity they don't offer it as an option because the boat looks would improve even more. All the rest, from the quality of sail hardware, to the overall quality and design, seems perfect, if you don't mind having a classic look on your boat, that has the advantage of not becoming old-fashioned.

The price is not excessive because this boat offers as standard many pieces of equipment that are optional on other performance cruisers like mainsail traveler, Jib/genoa traveler, spinnaker fittings, carbon bowsprit, 6 winches, 6 retractable cleats, and most of all interior structural bulkheads made of infused sandwich composite, as well as some minor details, like curtains and even so costs almost 19 000 euros less than an X4.6 that curiously is a 44ft (13.50m) boat while the J45 is a 46ft boat (13.85m).

It may not be excessive but at 458 360 euros (without VAT at the factory), it is a high price, that shows what happens when you choose not to compromise, offering a sailboat as it should be, as the designer has imagined it. The designer is Alan Johnstone, from the original family that created J/boats, and the one that is responsible for the design of the last J/boats.