JAM Vic Maui 2014

We finished on July 20 after sailing in a tropical depression with drenching rain and winds of 30 its. One of our competitors lost his mast approaching the finish so we struck our spinnaker and covered the last 30 miles under a white sail forward.

I am sorry for the lack of blogs. My computer broke half way to the finish and we used the Navigators computer. I thought I was sending blogs but they did not go through. If there is any interest at this late date these are the blogs that did not make it.


It was a quiet day aboard JAM. We were able to sail slowly along the edge of a rain cell for several hours. We would outrun it and then it would catch up. In the breeze we hoisted the spinnaker, out of the breeze we hoisted the staysail. Alan called it our daily exercise plan. We had a beautiful sunset but no green flash, then a full moon.

I can now tell of the skipper’s panic attack. Two nights ago the skipper did his evening check of the water level in the tank. There is a black line on the tank that is the no go below level so we have sufficient water to get from mid Pacific to Hawaii. There would be some rationing but each crew would have two quarts per day for consumption. When I looked the tank was nearly empty. The rule is before taking a shower the crew should check the water level but the skipper had become lax in enforcing the rule. The water maker was still running but no water was being made. We were over 600 mikes from SF with only five gallons of water and a hand operated water maker in the ditch bag. I got Marty and Tom Greetham up and they chased down the problem to a faulty valve at the intake. That was fixed and fresh water started to flow again. I literally collapsed from the adrenalin let down, Needless to say the level is being checked religiously.

Tomorrow will be slow but then we should get some wind to get us on our way.


July 13, 2014
Finally we have some wind. The light winds have given way to the trades and we are back on our way to Maui under spinnaker. We expect the breeze will build as the center of the high moves north. There is another light breeze to the SE of us but that should not be a problem for JAM.

Early this morning as we were dragging along at one knot Alan discovered a fishing net dragging behind us. We did not need this additional handicap. Bill had goggles and swim fins on the boat just in case and he brought them into action, He asked us to set a dorsal fin watch and jumped in. He quickly was able to free the net from the prop. We brought it aboard and it was about ten feet long. Bill had to inspect the keel and rudder while in the water. The skipper was nervous until he was back aboard.

Part of the entertainment during our time in the doldrums was a shoelace tying seminar put on by Alan. Half the crew tied granny knots and half tied square knots. According to Alan the square knot is preferred. The granny knot half of the crew was having difficulty making the change. Does this have any relevance to the real world, no, but it was amusing to us and when your boat speed is one knot anything to distract is a good thing.

We are having our half way part tonight. Marty smoked some pork for us and Steve is baking cornbread and making mashed potatoes. We have a tote of white wine for those that wish.

Night watch now.

Skipper JAM
July 15, 2014

The Skipper’s computer had a hiccup and lost the ability to send blogs so I have been offline. Fortunately we have the Navigator’s computer as a backup. We are 850 miles from the finish going west. We are having regular squalls and just jibed ahead of the first of the evening ones. The have a distinct easterly wind shift when they hit.

We lost one of our spinnaker halyards into the mast when the skipper was starting to splice a new eye for the shackle. We are having chafe problems and must remove the chafe section. He dropped the halyard and away it went up the mast and then into the mast. This is the first Hawaii race that JAM has had halyard problems.

Marty has been a superman as Mr. Fix It. He solved an electrical short in the forward cabin, found a loose mainsail tack pin and has taken charge of our water maker. He is always there when a fix is required regardless of which watch is on duty. I’m going to have to order him into his bunk for sleep. We run a five watch system. Two six hour watches from 6:00 am to 6:00pm and then three four hour watches. This allows the crew to do different time slots on alternate days and have a six hour span during the day for sleep and chores.

The squall is almost upon us so typing gets hard.

Skipper JAM

July 16, 2014
We made god progress today but blew up a spinnaker in the doing. We are 650 miles from the finish. We are still estimating our finish to be on July 20.
Steve made his signature dish for breakfast, a fatada (sp?). Tonight is dark with no moon but so far no squalls in sight. We are on port jibe so we are ready for them.
We lost the gasket to the water maker when we changed the filter but marty once more came to the rescue by creating a bypass around the filter. We are rationing showers until we get closer to Maui. We have a finish time pool organized to see is anyone can come closer with a guess than the Navigator with all of his information. Other than our early on jibe to the south that ended in disaster we have sailed a good race and gotten as much out of JAM as possible, We regularly exceed our polars (design speeds) and coax surfs every once is a while with our 18 ton machine in 20 kt conditions. The crew is enjoying the blue water sailing and drive time is coveted, at least during daytime. Jones, Alan and Mitch are the night time best drivers. The skipper has gotten more quality sack time this race than any of the previous three. I think the crew is going to think he is a slacker. Everyone is healthy and in good spirits. We have plenty of food left so there is no complaint on this front. We are all looking forward to the Mai Ties and family in Maui.

July 18, 2014

breath that it does not chafe and break. I have come to the conclusion that a new halyard that I thought was spectra core was not and hence not as strong and failed repeatedly.
We should finish sometime the morning of July 20. The entire crew is looking forward to shore leave. This has been a long race for Jam and can be traced back to one wrong jibe.

Steve has kept us well fed with Marty We are 250 miles form Maui. We are on a jib halyard with our spinnaker holding our contributing. The cornbread was a little brown on the bottom tonight as Steve was involved with a sail change, but that is the way we like it.

If Jones wins the pool for time of finish the Navigator is going to be very sad. Jones is not enamored with isochrones and reverse isochrones and feels we have mental constipation with all of the technology.

We are making water so the entire crew can have a good shower before we arrive.


Skipper JAM