Jag hade tänkt åka över en snabbis till London Boat Show, men det visade sig svårt att få in i kalendern på något vettigt sätt. J/111 var en av anledningarna, och man blir ju inte mindre sugen när man läser vad boats.com skriver i “J/111: Sailing Star at the London Show”.

Hundreds of exhibitors will be on site for the opening of the 2011 Tullett Prebon London International Boat Show. With nearly 100,000 square metres of event space, there are a vast variety of maritime services and wares on offer. And if fast, fun and competitive yacht racing flicks your switch, your first port of call must be the J Boats stand.

Readers may remember John Burnham’s blog on the very first J/111 launched last summer – “J/111 Sighting in Newport“.) Now Hull No. 6 is the first J/111 to make it to Europe, and it’s already sailed a number of days on the Solent. With tooling nearly complete in France, European production is in place, and early signs are for the 36 foot one-design sailboat to be an absolute blockbuster.

Paul Heys has been selling J Boats since 1994 from their offices in Hamble, and he is excited about the latest model: “European production of the J/111 started in November in La Rochelle, and the first boat should be finished by the middle of February with a total of 12 boats scheduled for completion by August.”

“We had 15 orders in the European yard before anyone had even seen a J/111 let alone sailed one,” Heys told me recently. “I understand that there are 45 orders in the States and 30 of those were before the first boat was launched. Plenty of people have launched one designs that have faded away when sales stall at 6 or 8, but when J Boats put their mind to it, they have a track record of pulling it off.”