Dave,
The story I heard about the sail is a bit different. When the Johnstones took the first J/30 down to SORC to sail IOR, they found that with J length pole/chute, the boat was slower downwind than they wanted. So they added 1 foot to the pole and could carry a bigger chute.
They could then use a bigger #1 without further penalty under the rule. This became the class #1.
Dunno how accurate that story is.
