Our man Sportboat has been involved in the JS 9000 saga almost from day one. He recently submitted an article describing the commissioning of the first one to arrive in Cali, now he goes sailing. Enjoy!

For the last few months our opinion of the JS9000 has not been good. A friend of ours ordered one in November 2002. He was told the boat would be here by the first of the year. The first of the year came and went. The JS folks kept stringing him along with a bunch of delivery dates that never materialized. They even went as far as sending pictures of boats that were not his, but claiming they were. So when we were told last month the boats were on a freighter heading this way we didn't believe it. Will they did finally show up packed nicely in a container.

Upon closer inspection though the boats looked very rough. Furthermore everything came disassembled. A few days in the boat yard and the keels were in the boats and the masts were up. The foils needed some significant fairing. Now the big job of rigging the boat came. We don't mean just running a few strings, but ALL the hardware was missing and needed to be installed. This even included coming up with a hoist lifting system. A very daunting task at first. Because not only was the hardware not installed, most of it wasn't provided. Having to install the hardware actually turned out to be a good thing because we could do it right with proper backing plates, fasteners and adhesives. Also because the boat is sailed on the windy SF bay we added extra purchase to the outhaul & cuningham.

After a week with the Harken and Ronstan catalogs, a credit card, a drill and some rivets the boat was ready to sail. Well not quite, the Doyle sails still were not complete. The sails had been ordered long before the boat showed up, but I think the boys at Doyle were just as skeptical as we were about the boat not showing up so they put the sail order on the back burner.

The Doyle sailmakers worked late Friday to finish up the sails. So finally the hour was here for that first sail. It was dusk so there was only about 5 knots of wind, but enough for the JS9000 to glide nicely though the flat water. Three of us were on board and the cockpit felt cramped. The control pod takes up much of the front of the cockpit really leaving room for a trimmer who sits in front of the traveler and a driver who sits aft. Because ALL of the control lines are lead aft this system works great. One does not have to move their butt to adjust any sail control. It's quite nice with our only complaint that having every freaking line come out of one place makes for a big mess of strings. This is a double-handers boat to be sure.

Saturday we go out with just two of us and the boat really starts to shine. The self-tacking jib makes tacking too easy. Crash tacks are no big deal. The jib traveler control line also allows the slot and jib twist to be kept in check. While rigging the boat we decided to go ahead and add control lines so the traveler could be played. Turns out this was a very good idea because the boat likes a ton of twist in the big roach mainsail (this particular boat appears to have a more roach) and the norm is to be traveled up. JS said traveler stops would work. No way. No how. So all that is required during the tack is traveling up quickly.

Tacking requires the boat be glided up into the wind and turned at a relatively slow pace. Because the boat is so long and narrow it is very similar to turning a cat. When the boat turns, it pushes a lot of water sideways. Once the boat slows slightly then the tack can be completed. There isn't a lot of room between the tiller and the traveler so it works out better just to step over the tiller when tacking. With the cockpit being so narrow and a nice center triangle foothold running the length, it's very easy to get secure footing.

The JS9000 heels a lot. Twenty degrees seems to be the standard before the 1,500# bulb really grabs. The boat sails upwind like it's on rails. One of the nicest tracking boats I have sailed. The tiller can be released and the boat keeps sailing straight. A very neutral helm. According to the GPS, upwind in 10 - 15 knots of breeze the boat held a constant 6.5 knots. The mast tip is very bendy so it de-powers quickly. The mast section below the hounds appears to stay in column without any excessive pumping.

After an hour or so of upwind sailing it was time to set the kite. This is where the boat really came alive. Frankly we thought the boat wouldn't do that well off the wind with its relatively small sail plan and lack of a sprit pole. While sitting in one place, pull up the spinnaker halyard, pull out the tack, trim on the sheet and go. The magic number is 90 degrees. Keep the apparent breeze at 90 degrees and the boat is happy. Go lower and it just slows down instantly. Go higher and it heels over excessively. Keeping the main sheeted in seems to help also. Even in 15+ knots breeze, the loads on the spinnaker sheet does not require a winch, although the sheets are run through ratchet blocks. Need to jibe. Just bear away a little, blow the sheet and bring in the new one while sitting in one place. We did add an additional Harken cam cleat next to the winch so the sheet could be cleated temporarily while the trimmer adjusts another control line. Also an additional set of cam cleats were installed for keeping the sheets in the boat when sailing upwind. Sitting to leeward or windward seems to have little effect on the boat. Even in 18 knots of breeze the boat showed NO signs of wanting to round up. If anything it had lee helm. If we could compare this boat to one it would be the very narrow deep bulbed keel Open 60' Ocean Planet. The feel is very similar with the way the boat tracks and seems impossible to upset. We were unable to even induce a round-up and the hint of losing rudder control never happened.

We got to go head to head with a couple boats including a J/World J/80. It wasn't even close upwind or downwind with both boats flying kites, albeit the J/World J80 has very tired sails and a dirty bottom. Down wind we paced a couple Wylie Wabbits. We were faster, but because of the narrow channel we had to jibe a lot more so they were able to stay very close. The provisional 75 rating will be challenging.

Overall we really like the boat. A few things remain to be sorted out like getting the keel shimmed better so it doesn't creak and groan after every tack. Installing a spinnaker launch bag would also be good. It's a very easy to sail boat. It slices right though chop and waves, but still remains dry. The controls all work nicely. It's a shame JS can't deliver a more finished product as we think they have a winner here in at least the concept. The sailing ability of the boat more than made up for the most of the initial delivery and commissioning difficulties.