Design
The JETON class rules state that the JETON was designed by Uwe Mares and Hubert Raudaschl on behalf of the Klepper company. The lines of the JETON certainly go back to the boat Uwe Mares drew for the competition for the international single-handed trapeze dinghy, which he also called JETON. That boat, however, was somewhat smaller than our JETON, which was then developed from it on behalf of the Klepper company.
Production/Licences
The JETON was built by Klepper until about 1980. Since then the Gruben boatyard has held the licence. In 1986–87 a small series of JETONs was built under licence by Menningen, Hunger and Niermann in Berlin. This project served to develop a new, optimized construction concept. From 1989–1992 the Fröschke boatyard in Mardorf on the Steinhuder Meer produced the regatta JETON under licence. Since October 1992 the Robert Franz yacht and boat yard has taken over production of the regatta JETONs. The Robert Franz yacht and boat yard belonged until the end of 1992 to the Research and Development Institute for Sports Equipment (FES) and has been a private business since the beginning of 1993. Fröschke and Robert Franz used the concept developed in Berlin. Robert Franz builds dinghies of the Olympic classes. The technologies developed for them are also used in the production of the JETONs. The JETON will be continually improved and further developed.
Class Rules
Until 1974 the JETON was a one-design class. During this period the class rules were changed several times. The rig in particular underwent a number of changes during this time:
- After the sail area was enlarged, the attachment point (measurement band VS) of the shrouds and jib moved further up. In 1974 the JETON attained the status of a national class. Since then there have been three significant changes:
- Redefinition of the jib fairlead
- 1985: Jib fairlead made free (unrestricted)
- Tapered mast, hull weight, new cockpit layout, self-bailers. The class rules were heavily revised by the technical committee of the DSV.