Classic sailboat

History sailing class J

Who does not like thin lines? No, no, do not think bad, this post is not going where you think, these paths, more or less curved, have no place here today. I intend to tell, roughly, the story of a group of ships did, and some still are, history of sailing: the class j.
 
Back in the 30s of last century, a small group of ships, only ten (six built in the U.S. and four in Britain), competed in eight short years and played three Copa America, the Knights won all the "Yankees" of New York Yacht Club, writing the most glorious pages of sailing regattas. There were times when the technology and aesthetics were in a sublime balance.
Hydrodynamic studies were still in "infancy" and thought that the best way for a helmet was a fish with large head and long tail. The wide bow digging into the waves prevented and avoided the stern eddies close left in the wake. The maximum beam was at one third of the bow.
 
In 1848, the great English naval architect, John Scott Russell, proposed just the opposite to traditional design of the period, providing sharp prows and sterns wide. The owners were not very clear, but three years later the schooner "America" was built according to this new beginning, clearing the doubts still remained about the effectiveness of this new form for helmets, but that is another story.

In the next 40 years was optimized shape of the hull to reduce hull friction and therefore the friction, but the fins were still long from bow to stern and shallow.