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During the 1930's J-class yachts were built to race in the America's Cup. Only 10 were ever built as they were extremely expensive to build and maintain, especially in the post war years after the Cup resumed in 1958. They were replaced by the 12-metre class yachts.
The J designation refers to the class of yacht defined by its length, sail area, mast height and displacement which is formally defined in the Universal Rule. When designing a J-class yacht, builders would have to decide which characteristics to maximize so as to build the ideal yacht. Of the true J-Class, only ten were ever built and these raced together for just eight seasons from 1930 to 1937. The rules for the J-Class yachts required that LWL had to be between 79 and 87ft, length overall had to exceed 120ft and they displace up to 160 tons.
Sir Thomas Lipton was the owner of the famous Lipton Tea which he imported from India. He challenged racers from across the globe on each occasion as a member of the Royal Ulster Yacht Club in Northern Ireland. In 1929 Sir Thomas Lipton sent out a challenge to the Americans for the most coveted America's Cup. It was his fifth challenge and set out a whole new era in design evolution and racing. So in answer to Thomas J. Lipton's challenge, the Americans designed four J-Class yachts. Enterprise, Whirlwind, Yankee and Weetamoe were launched within a month of each other; and which Enterprise was from the Herreshoff yard. Enterprise was the first set out as a racing ship on 14 April 1930 and was later crowned as the Cup defender, and winner of the series. At 80ft (24.4m) she was shortest of the four US Js which was conventional in all aspects. The enterprise was designed by W Starling Burgess. When designing Enterprise, Burgess had collected information which was about races and wind conditions to get an idea of what the conditions in the 1930 Cup might be. He was also credited with saving the Enterprise's position in the final 1930 preliminary race against the Weetamoe by improvising repairs to a broken fitting in the heat of battle. She had a very lightweight rigging and so was the fastest of the four to windward in moderate airs. She had the Park Avenue boom which was so advantageous to windward. The Enterprise had to compete with the yachts Weetamoe, Yankee, and Whirlwind in preliminary elimination races to qualify for the 1930 cup. The races were held in June, July, and August of the championship year. In 1930 it was seen that in the majority of cases the boat which won most of the early races in June and July did not necessarily need to be as the yacht selected to defend the Cup. It was also seen that The Weetamoe was the strongest boat during the early races and was favored to be selected. However, Burgess used these races as critical data to experiment with changes on the Enterprise, replacing her wooden mast with an aluminum mast which saved over 1,000 pounds in weight and replacing her boom with a design which set path for a more efficient sail shape. He also recutted her main sail to fit the new boom, installing a smaller rudder to reduce drag. And finally when it came down to the closing races, the Enterprise was ready and winning against the Weetamoe. It was during the last race that Burgess using his ingenious thinking, pulled victory from disaster by improvising a repair to save her main mast from collapse in the heat of the battle. On the evening of August 27, 1930, Enterprise was officially announced as the defender for the America's Cup. |
Yacht Classes 