Promoting the next generation of sailors

After Hall of Famer Bob Johnstone and his brother Rod launched J/Boats, Bob started MJM Yachts, a line of luxury motor yachts. He is a force of nature that gets people on the water, and his current passion is radio-controlled sailboats.

When the conversation turns to strengthening the sport, and converting enthusiastic youth sailors into the next generation of boaters, Bob sees the sport has lost its way and is doing something about it:

The sport needs to do a better job with youth sailing by connecting the generations. The good news is there is a proven solution that’s actionable, affordable, infinitely expandable to any town in America, and the most inclusive of any form of sailing or other outdoor sport imaginable… being age, gender, weight, strength, race and mobility-neutral.

When a 15-year-old girl can beat the retired commander of a nuclear attack submarine, it’s amazing! That story was a front-page feature in the Charleston Post and Courier.

A non-sailing grandmother sums up the reaction to such headline news, “Bob, it’s the most exciting thing that I have seen in years and years and years. You have brought happiness, hope, educational perspective, competition, companionship, learning a skill, building community between youngsters and us elderly – I could go on and on, but it makes my heart sing.”

This is not a new phenomenon. The New York Times described 5,000 spectators of a multi-generational model sailboat regatta, racing at Central Park in 1935. The sport has forgotten that in the 1920s and 1930s, thousands of students were building model sailboats in “shop” classes across the country to race in ¾- to 1-acre ponds.

These ponds were purposefully dug by cities and towns to accommodate model sailboat racing… the same size pond that works for DF95s. Those early ponds couldn’t be much larger, as poles were used for changing direction… probably requiring two people opposite shores, because boats weren’t radio-controlled yet.

Students, who never sailed before, within 10 minutes of launching the boat they’d just built and figuring out where the wind was coming from, start having fun, laughing, and racing each other.

That joy only builds when learning they’re racing “hot” boats, the same boat Ken and Brad Read sailed to become the current DF95 NA champs and who are helping us win the America’s Cup. WOW! These youth aren’t being sidelined in “kiddie” boats… but are immediately integrated, mentored by, and racing against all ages in the best-selling one-design boat of any size in the world.

The Charleston DF95 Racing program is essentially US Sailing’s successful REACH STEM curriculum, supplemented with the important project-oriented feature of students building their own DF95s. The Post and Courier writer, Jason Ryan, was so convinced, he’s purchased two DF95s for his family with two daughters to sail together.

And important to educators: “Project-oriented STEM teaching” is the latest trend in countering digital distraction. David Brooks concluded in his November 2024 Atlantic article, How the Ivy League Broke America, “I would submit that it’s your desires—what you are interested in, what you love. We want a meritocracy that will help each person identify, nurture, and pursue the ruling passion of their soul.”

We’re doing that in spades!

Bob and his boat transporter.