NEW TO THE FLEET

SEA TRIAL REPORTS and EXPERT INSIGHT for CRUISING ENTHUSIASTS

- MARK PILLSBURY

Double VISION

Race-ready and cruising-compatible, the handsome and powerful J/45 presents an offshore sailor with options. 

Sailing performance was S definitely a factor for Erik Asgeirsson when he began his search for a new sailboat. Currently the fleet captain at the American Yacht Club in Rye, New York, he’s a racing sailor and has been part of a crew who campaigned his uncle’s J/35 around the buoys for many seasons. But after years of owning a Pearson 10M, and with four daughters between the ages of 8 and 14— not to mention a fondness for the rocky coast of Maine—he also wanted a family-friendly cruising boat, which will be shared with a co-owner and his family at the club.

By luck, Al Johnstone and the team at J/Boats had just such a dual-purpose vessel in mind when they sketched out their newest model, the J/45. They envisioned a performance-oriented, offshore-capable sailboat that would be equally at home both on the Newport Bermuda Race starting line and on an extended cruise to anywhere.

Having launched several smaller and a few more racing-oriented) boats in the past decade, J/Boats president Jeff Johnstone saw the J/45 as an intentional return to bigger, multipurpose boats. Speaking just ahead of the start of this year's Newport Bermuda Race, Johnstone noted that out of the nearly 200 boats entered, more than 50 were J/Boats.

But back to the new 45-footer. Asgeirsson and his partner went over the plans, liked what they saw, and ultimately took possession of Hull No. 2 this past spring at the J Composites yard in Les Sables-d'Olonne, France. (J Composites is the longtime builder of J/Boats in Europe and the co-developer of the J/45 and several other models.) Asgeirsson was aboard Acadia for a 400-mile shakedown cruise to the United Kingdom, where the boat was loaded onto a ship and delivered to Narragansett Bay in early June.