The launching of Jax, a Botin-designed boat built for racing

Earlier this year, we began construction on our third Botin-designed boat, and it was launched on a beautiful, sunny day here in August. The owner, Oivind Lorentzen, stood next to Brian Larkin, President of Brooklin Boat Yard, as they reviewed the motivations that led to the building of Jax (see above). Plainly, Lorentzen wanted a boat that pushed boundaries. Partly from witnessing Outlier’s success, he knew Botin could design it, and he knew BBY could build it.

While Marcelino Botin is the designer of Jax and Paolo Periotto was the Production Designer on behalf of Botin, Will Sturdy led the charge here in Maine and acted as the conduit for the building project. Will had this to say about Jax: “This was a dream project for us – the owner had a clear direction of what he wanted out of the boat, and pulled together a great team of sailors, sailmakers, and other industry professionals. We were given leeway to push the limits and create a truly unique race boat. While we have built many performance sailing yachts, few have been as purpose-built to win races as this one. We’re no strangers to combining wood and carbon, and this build gave us the chance to push the boundaries and highlight what’s possible with our construction methods by combining different species of wood mixed with strategically placed carbon fiber to create a hull that’s both lightweight and extremely rugged.”

Some of Jax features include: a cold-molded wood-composite hull, an epoxy-infused foam and carbon deck, carbon-reinforced chain plates and keel structure, and the latest in Harken winches and deck hardware.

Specs:

Length Overall 43.31 ft / 13.20 m

Length Waterline 40.33 ft / 12.29 m

Beam 11.48 ft / 3.50 m

Draft 10.33 ft / 3.15 m

Displacement (LS) 15,432 lbs / 7000 kg