J/Boats, the Newport Family Company Behind America's One-Design Fleets

Ragtime, a garage in Stonington and a brother's $20,000

Rod Johnstone was selling advertising for Soundings when he built a 24-foot boat called Ragtime in his garage in Stonington, Connecticut. It raced so well in 1976 that Everett Pearson of TPI agreed to build it in an old Fall River textile mill, and Rod's brother Bob, then a marketing executive at the maker of the Sunfish, joined with a $20,000 investment. The J/24 went into production in 1977. The partners expected to sell 250 boats that first year and sold 750, and more than 5,400 have been built since.

J/Boats deliberately stayed a design and marketing company and left building to licensed yards. A second generation, led by Jeff and Alan Johnstone, has run the company from Newport since the early 1990s, with Alan as chief designer.

From the J/22 to the J/44, the boats we cover

Our coverage now runs to fifteen models, and they sort into four families that match how US sailors actually buy.

The small one-designs come first. The J/22 and J/24 are affordable entry points into competitive keelboat racing. The J/30 of 1979 was the J/24's bigger sibling, a beamy 30 footer with an inboard diesel and a V-berth that a family could cruise, and about 545 were built before production wound down in the mid 1980s. Its class is still active, especially on the Chesapeake. The J/80 and J/70 brought sportboat speed with asymmetric spinnakers, and the J/70 has become one of the largest one-design fleets in the world with more than 1,800 hulls. The J/88 adds a diesel and a head in a 29 foot one-design.

The sprit-equipped racer-cruisers are the heart of the brand. The J/105, introduced in 1991, was the first production keelboat with a retractable bowsprit and remains a strong big-city class. The J/120 of 1994 took that idea to 40 feet with a carbon sprit and two double cabins, and about 230 were built by 2006. The J/109 and J/111 bridge racing and weekend cruising in the mid 30 foot range, and the J/99 of 2019, built in France, was drawn for two-person offshore racing and won its class in the 2025 Fastnet.

Two daysailers came from the same thinking. The J/100 of 2004, a narrow, tiller-steered 33 footer, was Sailing World's Overall Boat of the Year for 2005, and its 41 foot sister, the J/124, followed in 2005 but only about 35 were made before 2007.

Finally, the offshore cruisers. The J/40 name covers two boats: Rod Johnstone's 1984 cruiser, of which 86 were built through 1994, and Alan Johnstone's all-new J/40 of 2024, which collected Cruising World's Best Boat Overall title for 2025. The J/44, built from 1989 to 1993 under ABS survey, was designed for the Bermuda Race, and its 67 or so owners still race as a class.

Current boats are built by CCF Composites in Rhode Island and J/Composites in France, among other licensees. Older boats came from TPI, which built the J/24, J/30, J/44, J/105, J/109 and J/120, while the J/100 came from Pearson Composites.

Class resale and what to check on a used J

One-design classes are the secret to J/Boats resale. A J/105 or J/70 has a known market value, an active racing calendar and a ready pool of buyers, so a well-kept boat sells quickly. Rarer models such as the J/124 or J/44 take longer to sell but can be good value. Sail inventories and class-legal equipment make a real difference to price, so compare like for like.

Most J/Boats are cored and raced hard, so check these items.

• Deck and hull core moisture around fittings and the keel area
• Keel to hull joint, keel bolts and floor structure after groundings
• Bowsprit tube, sprit and bearings on asymmetric models
• Rudder bearings and rudder condition
• Trailer and lifting points on trailerable J/70s and J/80s
• Sail inventory age and class measurement certificates
• Original engines and standing rigging on 1980s boats such as the J/30, classic J/40 and J/44