Jaguar 21 “Jasamats”

Paul Absolon

After 20 years of sailing dinghies, my boat for the last two years has been a Jaguar 21 called Jasamats. I bought the Jaguar because it is a bit like a “grown up” dinghy and I thought it would be a good stepping stone into cruisers. So, here is an article about these first 2 years.

First of all, I have found most things people say about the Jaguar 21 to be true. It really does need reefing early. You cannot leave the tiller for a moment. It does pay to pull those bits of string!

In our club racing so far we have mostly proved these things. Not only does reefing in good time not slow you down, it actually makes you go faster. For instance, in one of our first races on the beat in a force 5 to 6 we already had the working jib and one reef in. We put the second reef in and gained half a knot in speed!

It does pay to tweak the rig. We suddenly went faster to windward when we tightened the shrouds. The cunningham and outhaul do have a effect, just like on my dinghy. Also, we have to remember to progressively apply the backstay upwind as the wind gets up. This bends the mast considerably and opens the mainsail leech.

When the wind gets up you have to be cruel to your crew and make them sit on the rail (only when racing, of course). The Jaguar wants to be as upright as possible and you can really feel her “get up on her toes” and go when you have got two bodies up there! When out in the Thames estuary chop, this is also essential to protect the helm from spray….

I have also found how keen people are to talk to you about Jaguars. In the winter, when I was in the boatyard, several people came up to me and said “Jaguar 21, isn’t she? Now I had one once, great little boat…” There is clearly a lot of affection for Jaguar yachts.

The funny thing is, they invariably then launch into a tale of some disaster such as rudders falling off, near sinkings or running aground at famous locations. This is different from dinghy racing, where arguments about the start, luffing matches and supposed breaches of the rules are the order of the day. (Mind you, I now have my own tale of the rudder falling off, so maybe this is a mark of Jaguar ownership!).

One bit of Jaguar 21 mythology I disagree with. I don’t think the boat has a lot of weather helm. It is true that on the beat in F4 there is a definite tug, leading to a case of arm ache after a couple of hours! However the tiller is never more than about 5 degrees off the centre line and in other respects the boat behaves beautifully, only needing the mainsheet eased in stronger gusts.

It does, however, have “heavy helm”. I felt this was due more to the lack of balance on the rudder blade. In dinghies we used to cure this by angling the blade forward slightly. A little bit of DIY on the rudder blade now means the bottom of the blade is now angled forwards slightly (with the top reshaped so it can fit slightly back in the stock, with stops to locate the new position of the stainless steel plate). This has certainly helped to give it some balance and it is now less effort to helm.

For racing we take the outboard out and use a blanking plate in the well. The outboard then lives underneath the cockpit sole.

However this place could only be used after I had made the step in the cabin removable. A couple of bolts now locate the step, withdrawing them enables it to be lifted out and the outboard slid into the space. A refinement is a cutout in the step that takes the cowling of the outboard which stops it sliding around when under sail!

A note of caution though - this may not be such a brilliant idea as I first thought. The compass is just above and it seems it may be affected by the proximity of the powerhead. So sometimes we keep the rolled up inflatable there instead.

I fitted a log at the beginning of the year (the boat already had a depth sounder). Where to put the paddle wheel? In the end I cut the hole underneath the cockpit sole where it seems to work well. An advantage is that when you withdraw it for cleaning, the cupful or so of water that comes in is retained by the lip in the moulding making it easy to mop up.

We now have a new tri-radial spinnaker from Crusader Sails. It is a good sail, but compared to the dinghy spinnakers I am used to it is rather tall and skinny. It provides many interesting moments - for instance it has an uncanny knack of wrapping itself around the forestay at every opportunity.

The first time we used it, I had forgotten to tie a knot in the end of the spinnaker halliard, so when we tripped the clutch lever to take it down, the halliard just kept running…… up the mast, out of the sheave and into the sea. We admire the Medway Sonata fleet as they approach their bottom mark, bringing in their spinnakers, tidying the pole away and hardening on to the beat in a matter of seconds. Our ambition is to be as skilful as them!

Where the Jaguar really comes into its own is the weekends away. Our club has a couple of longer races in the summer, ending at a mooring with a pub on the shore for food, pints and those long debriefings. After a good nights sleep on board and breakfast in the morning we have a leisurely Sunday sail back and the satisfying feeling of a good weekend’s sailing behind us. Sailing is likened to standing under a shower tearing up £10 notes, but at times like these it always seems worthwhile!