Flying Junior

Notation
Boat dimensions
Length above :	4.03 m
Width above sea level :	1.50 m
Draft :	1.05 m
Weight (ready to sail):	Hull min. 75 kg
Sail area
Sail area close to the wind :	9.7 m²
Mainsail :	7.3 m²
Jib :	2.4 m²
Spinnaker :	8.0 m²
Others
Rigging type:	Sloop
Yardstick number :	116
Class :	International

The Flying Junior is a two-man regatta dinghy penned by the designers of the Flying Dutchman Uus van Essen and Coen (Conrad) Gulcher.

history

Coen Gulcher at the wheel of one of the first Flying Juniors (around 1955)

Historic wooden advertising for Flying Juniors

In 1954, the Dutch sailor Coen Gulcher began to consider the construction of a training boat that would introduce young people to the high-performance sailing dinghy Flying Dutchman, which he and Uus von Essen designed and built for the first time in 1951. This boat class, which later became Olympic in 1960, required a certain physical constitution, which made it impossible for adolescents to learn to sail directly on the FD.

The first draft was quite original and provided for a multi-purpose dinghy , so that the boat, which was built by the Van Den Brink te Stompwijk shipyard according to the first drawings by Uus van Essen, also had a rowing bench in addition to the sailing equipment. The sails themselves were red so parents could keep an eye on the boat. In this version, however, only two boats were built, the following were all pure sailing boats.

In 1956 the fleet of the new Junior Flying Dutchman was already so large that regattas could be sailed on Loosdrecht Plassen, the birthplace of the two types of boat. In the following years over 60 boats were completed per year.

In 1960 the Flying Dutchman became Olympic, and the demand for the smaller training boat also increased internationally. Shipyards in the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, the USA and Italy took over and improved the design. Class associations were also founded in Germany, Australia and Sweden.

In 1962 the type of boat, now known as “Flying Junior”, was recognized as a regulated boat class by the KNWV (Royal Dutch Watersports Association) by adopting the Class Rules.

In 1969 the boat owners in the various continents (Europe, USA, Asia) were able to meet the criteria of the IYRU (forerunner of the International Sailing Federation ISAF) and were awarded the status of an international class .

In the period that followed, the Flying Junior was continuously modernized by adapting the class rules, generally following the tendencies of its big brother Flying Dutchman.

In 1985 the trapeze was introduced, later the spinnaker was enlarged and the boat was equipped with a double floor. At this point in time, the class associations in many parts of the world had already given up on the status of a youth boat, as a growing number of adults were also using the boat class to compete at a high level in regattas without meeting the physical requirements of a Flying Dutchman have to. The IYRU took this into account when, in the mid-1980s, it allowed the Flying Junior to be officially named “Int. FJ “(International FJ).

In 1990 the Flying Dutchman lost its Olympic status and with it the Flying Junior its meaning as a training boat. The fact that the class has been able to develop further as a regatta class in amateur sailing is due to the large number of adult sailors, but also to the fact that the boat type is still used as a training boat in Japan, Italy and the USA (" College Boot ") is established.

The USA occupies a special position, in which at a manufacturer shipyard (Vanguard) there were deviations between the new buildings and the Flying Junior described and limited by the class regulations due to an error in the original shape (shell) . Since this fact was only discovered when a number of these boats were already on the market, the shipyard decided to continue marketing these boats under a new name (Club-FJ or C-FJ). This C-FJ has replaced the Flying Junior as a training boat in some areas of the USA, but where it has not participated in important innovations (such as the trapeze).

The documents and records collected by the “History Commission” on the occasion of the 50th anniversary can be viewed in the National Scheepvaartsmuseum Amsterdam after renovation and reopening . One of the first Flying Juniors is also part of the exhibition there.

construction

Computer simulation of a modern Flying Junior (Chopstick by Bernard Stienstra)

The ISAF Equipment Rules of Sailing know two different ways of interpreting class rules, so-called open class rules and closed class rules . The difference is that, according to the ISAF Equipment Rules of Sailing, everything is forbidden in closed classes that is not expressly allowed in the class regulations, in contrast to this, sailors in so-called open classes have the opportunity to take care of innovations within the existing rules ( everything is allowed that is not prohibited in the class rules).

The class rules of the Flying Junior (Int. FJ) class were conceptually open class rules. This led to the fact that a variable width of boat extensions and constructions is available. According to the regulations there were e.g. B. hardly any restrictions on the material from which the hull can be built ("Class Rules D.2.1 .: The structure of the Hull must be inherently buoyant in the event of failure of all buoyancy tanks and / or bags")

Therefore there are Flying Junior boats made of wood, polyester, carbon or in sandwich construction made of different materials. For cost reasons, modern boats are mainly made of polyester or carbon.

There are manufacturing shipyards in Italy, Japan and the USA. However, top sailors often insisted on creating their own constructions, sometimes together with manufacturing shipyards.

The open design of the class regulations has always kept the path to innovation open. At the same time, the open handling of these class regulations made it possible to keep good racing boats available at affordable prices.

According to the prevailing currents in the ISAF, the class rules of the Flying Junior (Int. FJ) were rewritten in May 2010 as "Closed Class Rules". The resulting restrictions for older boats cannot yet be assessed.

List of world champions

World Champion 2007 in San Francisco Bay, Peter Wanders / Gisa Wortberg, GER 361

World Championship Trophy of the Flying Junior Class

year	venue	Helmsman	Bowman	nationality
1963	Italy - San Remo	Duuk Dudok van Heel	Cocky vd Berg	NED
1965	Sweden - Saltsjobaden	Duuk Dudok van Heel	Joan v. Ogtrop	NED
1967	Canada - Montreal	Duuk Dudok van Heel	Marleen van Duyl	NED
1969	Netherlands - Muiden	Duuk Dudok van Heel	Gerrie Keersbergen	NED
1971	USA - Lake Tahoe	Steve Lewis	Randy Lewis	United States
1973	Belgium - Nieuwport	Bertocchi	Apostoli	IT
1975	Italy - Venezia	De Martis	Stanniero	IT
1977	England - Whitstable	G.Noe	S.Noe	IT
1979	USA - Richmond	Steve Klotz	Steve brilliant	United States
1981	Netherlands - Muiden	Steve Klotz	Steve brilliant	United States
1983	Italy Castiglione della Pescaia	Steve Klotz	Steve brilliant	United States
1985	Belgium - Blankenberge	Thierry DenHartigh	Peter Laureysens	BEL
1987	Japan - Sakaiminato	Takayuki Shimadzu	Kouichi Hasegawa	JPN
1989	Netherlands - Medemblick	Jan Bultman	Willy Bosveld	NED
1991	Italy - Senigallia	Hans Cox	Alexander Cox	NED
1993	Japan - Inage	Takagi	Asari	JPN
1995	Germany - Stralsund	Hans Cox	Robert Jan Cox	NED
1997	USA - San Francisco	Hans Cox	Robert Jan Cox	NED
1999	Italy - Porto San Giorgio	Peter Wanders	Susanne Wanders	GER
2001	Japan - Atsumi	Kenta Shingo	Satochi Komura	JPN
2003	Netherlands - Muiden	Hiromi Saitou	Hikaru Dewa	JPN
2005	Germany - Dümmer See	Peter Wanders	Gisa Wortberg	GER
2007	USA - San Francisco	Peter Wanders	Gisa Wortberg	GER
2009	Italy - Lovere	Haruka Shimodaira	Takumi Ishikawa	JPN
2011	Belgium - Nieuwpoort	Rolf de Jong	Esther Potthuis	NED
2013	Germany - Dümmer See	Guido Sol	Kristina Gründken	NED
2015	Japan - Hayama	Enishi Naka	Terutaka Tada	JPN
2017	Slovenia - Portorož	Rolf de Jong	Esther de Jong	NED

swell

• Yacht journal. Delius Klasing, No. 1/1975, p. 70ff, "Flying Junior: Mini-FD with maxi-temperament"
• Yacht journal. Delius Klasing, No. 11/1996, p. 158ff, "Flying Classrooms"
• Homepage of the Dutch class association (history of the Flying Juniors)

See also

• List of boat classes
• List of ship types

Web links

• International Class Association (English)
• German class association
• Dutch class association (Dutch)
• National Scheepvaartmuseum Amsterdam (Dutch, English)