History
The Javelin was designed in 1968 by the Englishman Peter Milne, who also designed the Fireball, among other things. When designing the Javelin, he has set himself the goal of designing a dinghy with excellent sailing characteristics without making extreme demands on the crew. He has succeeded well in his design and has designed a boat with the Javelin that, partly due to its pointed underwater hull, has excellent upwind properties and thanks to its flat bottom, planes quickly.
Milne's wooden Javelins were so good that they had to be mass-produced in polyester. Paul Wright already had experience in making polyester boats and started producing Javelins in 1969. Wright made six molds. He used several molds himself and others were sold on to licensed builders. As soon as a boat is ready for delivery, Wright issues a sail number and the boat is provided with a registration plate. The company Evecom in Amsterdam was the importer of many Javelins at the time.
The differences are actually minimal:
Milne's wooden Javelins were so good that they had to be mass-produced in polyester. Paul Wright already had experience in making polyester boats and started producing Javelins in 1969. Wright made six molds. He used several molds himself and others were sold on to licensed builders. As soon as a boat is ready for delivery, Wright issues a sail number and the boat is provided with a registration plate. The company Evecom in Amsterdam was the importer of many Javelins at the time.
The differences are actually minimal:
- The boats from mold 1 were characterised by a wooden bumper around the boat. This wooden bumper was discontinued in the later models.
- The boats from mold 1 could also be supplied as a tour boat. These boats lacked the trapeze, spinnaker and the trumpet on the foredeck.
- From sail number 551 all boats were built in foam sandwich, while before that everything was fully laminated, with an experiment here and there, like the bottom of 508 for example.