J/Boats is the world leader in performance sailboats.
Started in 1977, J/Boats leads the world in designing fun-to-sail, easy-to-handle, performance sailboats that can be enjoyed by a broad spectrum of sailors. The product line ranges from "one-design" classes to offshore racing boats and from "day sailors" to "blue-water cruising" boats from 22 to 65 feet.
Today, there are 13,400+ J/Boats worldwide ranging from the J/22 to the J/65. J/Boats has four of the largest keelboat classes as determined by ISAF (International Sailing Federation): the International J/24 with nearly 5,500 owners; the International J/22 with 1,600+ boats; the International J/80 with 1,500+ boats; and the International J/70 at 700+ since launching in 2012.
J/Boats has the best track record in sailing for innovation and design as evidenced by 18 Sailing World/ Cruising World Boat of the Year Awards; the SAIL Award for Industry Leadership; and 2 American Sailboat Hall of Fame Designs (J/24 & J/35). The revolutionary J "sprit boats", first introduced by the company in 1992, were the world's first production keelboats to include easy-to-use "asymmetric" spinnakers and retractable carbon bowsprits. This feature, now adopted by most brands worldwide, can be found on J Boats' current product range including the J/70, J/80, J/88, J/95, J/97E, J/105, J/111, J/112E and J/122E.
Counting crew members, every year there are over 100,000 friends to meet sailing J's, populating the most beautiful sailing harbors and sailing the waters of 35+ countries around the world. Sailing is all about friends. Come join us and expand your social network everywhere!
- Company Name:J/Boats
(View Trends)
-
Headquarters: (View Map)Newport, RI, United States
-
-
1 - 10 employees
-
Desktop Display, Mobile Display, Social, Email
-
CPM
-
Web Publisher
- Headline:Publisher: Better Sailboats for People Who Love Sailing.
- Self / Managed Service:Managed Service
- IndustriesAutomotive, Travel & Leisure
- Key DifferentiatorThe story of J/Boats is a classic entrepreneurial tale: With a $20,000 investment, and a speedy 24-foot sailboat that Rod Johnstone built in his garage, Rod & his brother Bob Johnstone went into business. That was 1977. Now, that boat (the J/24), has become the most popular recreational offshore keelboat in the world. The Johnstone family has made an undeniable mark on the sailing world. In addition to the 5,400 J/24s cruising the waves, there are over 7,000 more J/Boats, ranging from the International J/22 to the J/65, that sailing enthusiasts have bought at prices ranging from $10,000 to $2,000,000. While other manufacturers may sell more boats, the Johnstones have won the high-end, performance-oriented segment of the market. Theirs is the so-called racer/cruiser category: boats that perform well on the race course but which are comfortable and easy enough for the family to daysail and cruise. It is with knowledgeable, experienced sailors that the Johnstones have done best. The story begins in 1975. Rod, then an ad salesman for the sailing trade magazine, Soundings, and an active one-design sailor decided to build a sailboat he had been designing since completing a Westlawn School of Yacht Design correspondence course in the 60's. With $400-worth of fiberglass and wood, some rigging and hardware left over from a Soling of Bob's, he built the 24' x 9' wide RAGTIME on weekends in his 3 car garage at his home in Stonington, Connecticut. During the summer of 1976, with an all family crew aboard, RAGTIME beat everything in sight. Rod realized he had created something special. Enter Everett Pearson, the owner of Tillotson Pearson, Inc, a highly respected boat builder in Warren Rhode Island. He was quite taken with Rod's design and agreed to produce the boat on spec in return for the U.S. building rights. Display ads in Soundings got the word out. That winter they set up a makeshift factory in an old textile mill in nearby Fall River, Massachusetts, and began popping out J/24s. Enter the marketing experience of brother Bob, a vice president of marketing at AMF/Alcort (the makers of Sunfish sailboats at the time). He saw the potential in the boat Rod had designed. From 1975 to 1977, Bob had helped to take Alcort from the red into the black, and then began trying to convince AMF to start producing a boat similar to the J/24. When AMF didn't jump, in February of 1977, at age 43, Bob did and threw in his lot with J/Boats. With Rod contributing the design and his prototype 'Ragtime' and Bob investing $20,000 to cover start-up costs, office space, and advertising, their 50-50 partnership was launched. They sold 250+ (and delivered 136) J/24s that first year. Each successive year has marked unique achievements in the sport and industry. The next generation of Johnstones has been at the helm since 1988, while founders Rod and Bob continue to contribute their talents. Since 1992, Jeff (president) & Alan (chief-designer) have managed company operations from J/Boats Headquarters in Newport, RI while a total of six of Bob & Rod's sons (Jeff, Alan, Stu, Drake, Phil and Peter) serve on the J/Boats Board of Directors.
- 1688683 Global Rank
- 434791 United States
- 37.1 K Estimated Visits
-
Search82.09%
-
Direct14.21%
-
Referrals3.70%
-
Display0.00%
-
Mail0.00%
-
Social0.00%
- United States 90.5%
- Consumer Goods and Services
- Boats
- Sailboats
They are headquartered at Newport, RI, United States, and have 1 advertising & marketing contacts listed on Kochava.
J/Boats works with Advertising technology companies such as DoubleClick.Net, AppNexus, Dstillery, Atlas, Resonate Insights, FLoC, FLoC Opt-Out.