Flying Junior

Current Specifications
Int. FJ's, Worlds 2007, San Francisco Bay
FJ Class Symbol
Crew	2
LOA	13 ft 3 in (4.04 m)
Beam	4 ft 2 in (1.27 m)
Hull weight	210 lb (95 kg)
Mast height	25 ft (7.6 m)
Main & Jib area	100 sq ft (9.3 m2)
Spinnaker area	80 sq ft (7.4 m2)

Coen Gulcher helming one of the first Flying Juniors (1955)

The International Flying Junior or FJ is a sailing dinghy which was originally designed in 1955 in the Netherlands by renowned boat designer Van Essen and Olympic sailor Conrad Gülcher. The FJ was built to serve as a training boat for the then Olympic-class Flying Dutchman. The FJ has a beam of 4'11" and an overall sail area of 100 square feet (9.3 m²). These dimensions make the FJ an ideal class to teach young sailors the skills of boat handling and racing.

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

In 1960 the Flying Junior formed its own class organization and by the early 1970s the Flying Junior was accorded the status of an International Class by the International Yacht Racing Union, the pre-cursor to the International Sailing Federation. This status indicates that the class applies to strongly restricted class rules and holds regularly scheduled international regattas.

All documents about the history of the International FJ (Flying Junior) can be looked up at the National Scheepvaartsmuseum in Amsterdam

Today the FJ is sailed in Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and the United States. In the US, many high school sailing and Intercollegiate Sailing Association programs own fleets of FJs. The college and high school programs in the US use a version of the FJ known as the Club FJ. This boat is slightly different from the International FJ in that it does not use Trapeze and it has a smaller, non-spherical Spinnaker.

Although the FJ resembles other sailing dinghies, the dimensions of the hull allow it to sail closer to the wind than many other models.

World Champions International FJ-Class (Flying Junior)

Year	place	Helmsman	Crew	Nationality
1963	Italy - San Remo	Duuk Dudok van Heel	Cocky v.d. Berg	Netherlands
1965	Sweden - Saltsjöbaden	Duuk Dudok van Heel	Joan v. Ogtrop	Netherlands
1967	Canada - Montral	Duuk Dudok van Heel	Marleen van Duyl	Netherlands
1969	Netherlands - Muiden	Duuk Dudok van Heel	Gerrie Keersbergen	Netherlands
1971	USA - Lake Tahoe	Steve Lewis	Randy Lewis	United States
1973	Belgium - Nieuport	Bertocchi	Apostoli	Italy
1975	Italy - Venezia	De Martis	Stanniero	Italy
1977	England - Whitstable	G. Noe	S. Noe	Italy
1979	USA - Richmond	Steve Klotz	Steve Brillant	United States
1981	Netherlands - Muiden	Steve Klotz	Steve Brillant	United States
1983	Italy - Castiglione della Pescaia	Steve Klotz	Steve Brillant	United States
1985	Belgium - Blankenberge	Thierry Den Hartigh	Peter Laureysens	Belgium
1987	Japan - Sakaiminato	Takayuki Shimadzu	Kouichi Hasegawa	Japan
1989	Netherlands Medemblick	Jan Bultman	Willy Bosveld	Netherlands
1991	Italy - Senigallia	Hans Cox	Alexander Cox	Netherlands
1993	Japan - Inage	Katsuya Takagi	Keiichi Asari	Japan
1995	Germany - Stralsund	Hans Cox	Robert Jan Cox	Netherlands
1997	USA - San Francisco	Hans Cox	Robert Jan Cox	Netherlands
1999	Italy - Porto San Giorgio	Peter Wanders	Susanne Wanders	Germany
2001	Japan - Atsumi	Kenta Shingo	Satochi Komura	Japan
2003	Netherlands - Muiden	Hiromi Saitou	Hikaru Dewa	Japan
2005	Germany - Lake Duemmer	Peter Wanders	Gisa Wortberg	Germany
2007	USA - San Francisco	Peter Wanders	Gisa Wortberg	Germany
2009	Italy - Lovere	Haruka Shimodaira	Takumi Ichigawa	Japan

Sources

• International Class organization (English)
• Netherland Class organization (Dutch)
• National Scheepvaartsmuseum Amsterdam (Dutch) (English)