Quote:
Originally Posted by lucast70
I race with a J/24 the last 12 years. Offshore and class races. It feels as stable and forgivable as a 36 footer, at least in the Greek waters where I sail. But I would never recommend to anyone to take long passages with it. After 10 hours you will be really tired. Wind speed above 25 knots or waves with a length longer than 24 feet will make it even harder and very wet.
The link below shows an experiment some friends did, after a few cans of beer, 18 years ago
J24 Up-Side Down
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It's too bad the crew of the upside down J-24 forgot to secure the
cockpit lockers. As you can see in pic #7 the starboard locker is wide open and
water is flowing into the
hull.
However, with
cockpit lockers secured, and with hatches closed and the
companionway washboard in place, very little
water would have gotten into the
boat, even upside down for a few minutes.
It's a tough, well-built
boat that can handle very bad
weather long enough to get its crew to
safety as long as that crew knows what it's doing. I raced mine for about 15 years and would gladly sail one in unprotected waters as long as a safe harbor was 4 - 5 hours away. And if I were younger and had a solution to the lack of back support in the cockpit, I would not shy away from taking a properly prepared J-24 offshore.