The J/109 Class Association Forum

Purchased this boat in Feb of 2013 and previously we raced a Frers 33. Boat took some getting used to with the asym but we have finally figured out a few things. First in reaching pretty high with the spinnaker trying to bring it into the forward hatch, fully loaded, is out of the question. We hooked up a trip line to the tack and we just blow the tack line and gather it into the back of the boat, downstairs. That made a BIG difference in getting that monster down. If you can turn downwind and blow the halyard you can gather it into the hatch but on a close reach it's just impossible.

Next my North Sail maker ran across a 109 with a new North 155% genoa and he got the design from the North provider that actually sat down and designed the sail. I bought the 155 and that turned the boat into a rocket in anything under 11 knots. At 11 knots you can't use it because it overpowers the boat.

The boat will round up when over powered but it absolutely refuses to broach. Along with that it recovers from the round up pretty quick.

Love the boat.

Frank,

Yes, 11 knots TWS seems to be the crossover point I've found where the smaller #3 gives us just as much speed as the #1 but we get to point higher!! You can however use the #1 in more than 11 knots; just keep adding backstay and halyard and keep dropping the traveler on the main. Once you are over 15 knots TWS you may find you need to leave the main a bit untrimmed to keep the boat on her feet. Once up to about 18-20 knots TWS I start thinking about how to get a sail change in before I do some damage to the #1!!

Enjoy the boat!!!

Z