But why a J/120?

Good question.  Thanks for asking.

It’s been almost 10 years since we were boat owners.  Our priorities have changed only slightly, with much of the change based on our experience with Earendil, our trusty 1977 Valiant 32 that we lived on for almost 5 years.  Prior to 2011, while living in Texas, we decided that 2011 would be the year we return to boat ownership.  The time just seemed to be right.  Saltwater in our veins?  When we started our search in earnest last fall, our priorities for a new boat were pretty simplistic.  We wanted, in no particular order, a boat that was newer, faster, capable of crossing oceans, and with a comfortable interior.  Of course, the new boat had to fit within our budget as well.  Earendil was perfectly able to fulfill the latter two requirements, but didn’t fare so well on the first two.  Really there aren’t too many boats that do fit those basic requirements.  Most sailboats capable of crossing oceans and with a comfortable interior are either not fast or not within our budget.

One of the first boats we considered was a J/40.  These boats were built in the 80’s and early 90’s.  A J/40 has a great reputation as a solid bluewater cruiser, with at least one circumnavigation in its ranks.  The interior is spacious and comfortable and the boat sails really well, particularly upwind.  In the end we steered away from the J/40 because the boats were starting to show their age, with expensive hardware and fittings starting to need replacement.  The current market was also filled mostly with the shoal draft version which seemed like an unnecessary castration of a fine boat for the waters we plan to sail.  Finally, J/40 owners are quite proud of their boats and the pricing for the boats on the market didn’t seem inline with market.  Hey, buddy!  We are in a recession, in case you didn’t know.

Another boat we thought about long and hard was the Fairweather Mariner (FM) 39.  This is an attractive, stout, Bob Perry (same designer as for Earendil) design.  In many ways the FM 39 is an evolution of the Valiant 32, being newer, more comfortable, and faster.  We had looked at an FM 39 many years ago, just out of curiosity and it remains one of my favorite designs.  These boats were built in the 80’s, and the pricing was attractive.  After much consideration we ruled out the FM 39 because of the age of the boats (that hardware issue again) and the fact that the FM 39 was the slowest boat we considered.

Our simple criteria allowed us to consider a wide range of designs and at the opposite end of the spectrum from the FM 39 is the Aerodyne 38.  First of all, the Aerodyne is just plain cool.  The newest and fastest boat we considered.  The Aerodyne is a rocket ship with a decent interior.  There were 3 Aerodynes on the market last fall and we considered each one carefully, even taking one for a sail.  During a 30-minute sail we hit 9 knots without even trying.  My heart said yes to the Aerodyne.  It was interesting, a pleasure to look at, and a joy to sail.  Unfortunately, the interior was pretty basic, all of the available boats lacked some basic cruising gear, and there seems to be bigger than normal issue with wet core in the hull and/or deck that could require significant repairs.  While we were thinking about making an offer on the one of the Aerodynes we made a trip down to Annapolis to look at a J/120.

The boat we drove down to look at was reasonably well equipped, seemed well priced, but it was a rare shoal draft version, and again we had no use for a shallower keel that for our purposes would only reduce performance.  When we stepped inside though, our eyes lit up.  This was a real cruising boat on the inside and the idea of making an offer on the Aerodyne quickly evaporated.  This J/120 met all of our requirements better than anything we’d looked at so far.  As it turns out there was another J/120 right next to the shoal draft boat.  The broker was hesitant to show us the boat, feeling it wasn’t cruisy enough for us and he’d had a hard time trying to sell the boat for almost 2 years.  We looked anyway and immediately our interest was peaked.  First off, this J/120 had the standard deep keel, which meant she would be a great sailing boat upwind and downwind.  The boat had only been raced, never cruised, and there was very little gear onboard.  In fact, this particular offering was quite basic and needed a number of upgrades to make her the boat we envisioned.  Then the broker told us the price that the motivated seller would accept.  I think Chris & I both just about fell over.  At that price, we could add or replace every piece of equipment that we would want and still come in well below other J/120’s, J/40’s, A38’s, and our budget.  Even the FM 39 pricing didn’t look attractive anymore.  So that was that.  We ended up with a J/120 because it met all of our criteria easily.

♦  Fast?  A quick review of the ratings indicates Shearwater should on average, day in and day out, sail 2 knots faster than Earendil, and we know there will be occasions when she will sail at twice the speed of Earendil.  We are also excited to try out the 7’ bowsprit for flying a huge asymmetrical spinnaker and the gennaker on a free-flying roller furler.  Compared to most cruising boats Shearwater should be a flyer.  Check.

♦  Newer?  20 years newer than Earendil and we are adding a great deal of brand new gear.  Check.

♦  Comfortable interior?  For us, I have a hard time imagining a better interior.  A spacious v-berth, single head, decent nav area, large quarter berth, and huge “garage” under the port-side cockpit make this a very big boat, well suited for 2 people.  Check.

♦  Capable of crossing oceans?  Well, this topic is the subject of much debate regarding what is suitable for long-distance cruising.  I’ll keep it short this time and just say that several similar J boats have circumnavigated, raced to Hawaii and Bermuda, and crossed the Atlantic.  When it comes down to it, boats tend to be tougher than the crew and good preparation is more important than the design.  Check.       

I clearly remember looking at a J/120 back when they were introduced in the mid-90’s.  The boat seemed amazing, but completely out of our reach.  At the time I never would have imagined that someday we’d own a J/120.  Now we feel very lucky to have stumbled upon Shearwater.

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