J-Class Rainbow starts construction

The J-Class Rainbow, designed by Dykstra & Partners for a repeat client, has started building at Bloemsma Aluminiumbouw. When the hull will be ready, Rainbow will be transported to be finished at Holland Jachtbouw (HJB). The re-build of this originally William Starling Burgess Designed yacht will be under supervision of Dykstra & Partners Naval Architects. Rainbow will be built and fitted out to race with the existing and new J’s according to the JCA (J Class Association) rules. o keep the J-Class fleet and races alive and to encourage new build yachts to enter the field, new JCA maximum performance rules have been developed, including allowing aluminum as building material. The new rule is a VPP (Velocity Prediction Program) based rating system which puts limits to the performance. This new rule has been developed by the Dykstra & Partners office and the Wolfson Unit in Southampton. The aim of the JCA, the Dykstra team and the rule is to bring fair & close racing to the fleet and to give all designs a chance of winning (on a handicap based system). Over the years the Dykstra team gained an enormous amount of hands-on information by racing on all the J’s in the current fleet.