Plastic Classic Forum

As in the past few years, the 2004 Newport boat show featured one lucky/cursed fellow in an Alerion 28 sailing back and forth through the harbor all day long.


The cool part about this year was that she was joined by a new J-100, basically sailing the same course, occasionally taking prospective buyers for joyrides.


This particular J100 was equipped with the optional Hoyt (?) self-tacking jib boom just like the Alerion, so the comparison was really interesting. Two very similar daysailors at first glance, distinguished by a rather small difference in philosophy in terms of the pursuit of speed.

I'll just come out and say it: The J100 is just a friggin rocketship. Carbon rig, deep blades with antimony ballast, SCRIMP construction, etc... I think the PHRF number is something in the 80s (she'd owe a Triton roughly 175 seconds per mile in a handicapped race). Hands-down winner over the Alerion in terms of sheer speed.

But you need to work at it a bit.
The J100 is built with butt-comfy decks for the rail meat, vs. the Alerion which has class rules that prohibit crew from leaving the comfort of the cockpit.
The J100 has a LOT of strings to pull.... Just about everything short of running backstays. she's got 6:1 AND 24:1 mainsheet controls, for cryin' out loud!!!
The Alerion employs a lot less spaghetti in the cockpit.

Both are designed for ease of handling. The Alerion has the slight edge in this regard, as the J100 really does need a second person when the wind pipes up.

I'm just rambling now, but I really had a great time watching these boats from the dock and from the launches. The J100 is a Jboat through and through, but one could very easily imagine that the Alerion had an influence on her creation. I've loved the Alerion for years, and now this new Jboat has come along as a really well-done comment on it.

If I'm any judge, this J100 is going to be HUGE. I'm talkin' J24 kinda huge. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for a teak toerail. :)

What did you think of the boat show in general ? We were there Sunday and I was mightily impressed. Don't know what the other sections were like, we spent all day in the sailboat section (except for a quick trip to the Red Parrot for lunch via the Hinckleys).

Very nice, except that I think I might be going down with one-foot-ite-us, My wife seems to have a full dose of eight-foot-ite-us too.....

I thought the boat show was great. Saturday was the only real washout and I was home cooking chili that day. Having the brokerage show running in parallel is a good feature. That gives you a chance to see boats that you ordinarily wouldn't stand a chance to get aboard. Usually the owners are hanging around too and enjoy talking about their boats (especially on the slower days of the show). I learn a lot from them. I spent about an hour speaking with a guy that is full-time captain of a Hinckley 51 and that alone was worth the admission (as well as seeing his pristine boat!).

eight-foot-itis.... sounds like the show had the designed effect!

I'm a boatshow junkie. I just can't help myself. I never buy anything apart from the occasional hat or tshirt, but I'm somehow compelled to attend nonetheless. There's a marina down the road from my house that hosts an annual used boatshow, which is never anything but sea rays and bayliners that were purchased by ignorant fools at the previous winter's Hartford Boat Show. Still, I pay my $10 and look around for an hour or two.

The sailboat section of this year's show was pretty good. A bit better than recent years. Perhaps because the economy is a bit slower, most dealers brought a "realistic" model or two to complement the obligatory "flagship". Jboats brought a J22, Tartan brought the 31, Sabre had something in that range as well. Hunter and catalina, of course, brought the 21, 25, 28, 30, 31, etc.

Whoever did the layout of boats in the maze was having a good time..... right in the middle of the big-boats section, between the Saga 40 and the Island Packet 40something was the MacGregor 26!!! I laughed out loud.

If you'd more time on your hands, you would probably have enjoyed parts of the powerboat section. Several really nice semi-custom "lobsteryachts". The "Trawlerport" is always good for a chuckle.
I snapped a bunch of pics. If the wifey ever downloads them off the camera, I'll post a few of the better ones.

I had considered going to Newport this year, but obviously didn't make it--suddenly it was happening and I hadn't given any real thought to making plans. Oh well. It's definitely time for another boatshow pilgrimage, though. I'd consider Annapolis, but as we're going away for 3 weeks in November, we can't make it down this year. Maybe Newport in 2005.

This post was turning off-topic, so I moved the "new direction" posts, regarding small diesel engines, to a new topic.

You can find it right here: http://www.triton381.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=506