Memories: Jam/MoJoe

Bill Gately on Jam/MoJoe:

"In the "small world" arena, the only other Serendipity 43 whose deck I have ever stood on is that of MoJoe!

Back maybe 15 years ago I sailed "Jam" back from Rockport [Maine] to Marblehead Harbor [Massachusetts] with Richard (I forget his last name), a then retired attorney who lived in Marblehead but had a house up in Maine.  At that time Jam's cockpit had been extensively modified with a very large metal dodger, her bridge deck cut away and a new 6' 5" [shoal] keel designed by Jim Taylor to replace the 7' 9" keel with which she came. 

I knew Richard and was familiar with Jam's new keel since Jim Taylor replaced my keel at the same time as he was replacing Jam's.  Jam and Fruition shared Jim's design cost and the mold that had to be made to cast the two keels.

When Jim Taylor made his proposal for a new keel he stated that, "You would never do this if you were going to race her.  You will lose a couple of degrees to weather but might gain some back downwind since she will be a little stiffer. "

 

This author is happy to report that our crew sailed MoJoe competitively and well even with that shortened shoal keel, winning many races, much like Fruition is doing even today!

Mo-info

Hi everyone,

Here is some handy information if you'd like to follow along with MoJoe during the race. MoJoe is a 1981 Serendipity 43 competing in the SDL division. We have a seven-man crew and will be departing from Newport on Friday, June 18th. We are planning to arrive in Bermuda sometime between Wednesday, June 23rd and Thursday, June 24th, having traveled 635 nautical miles (~730 "land" miles). I fly home from Bermuda via JetBlue on Saturday, June 26th.

2010 Newport-Bermuda Race Main Site

http://www.bermudarace.com

Boat Tracker
http://www.bermudarace.com/OntheRacecourse/RaceTracking/tabid/199/Default.aspx

General Race Course Information

http://www.bermudarace.com/TheRace/TheCourse/tabid/144/Default.aspx

Gulf Stream Analysis/Forecasts

http://www.bermudarace.com/LogisticsResources/GulfStreamTutorials/tabid/204/Default.aspx

In addition to this blog, we will be posting footage taken during the race upon our arrival in Hamilton on our YouTube site:

http://www.youtube.com/mojoesail

After Bermuda, MoJoe will be continuing across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean where she'll be put up for sale. Who knows what the next ride will be for our hardy crew!

MoJoe Ready for 2010 Newport-Bermuda Race

MoJoe is docked in Newport and awaiting the starting gun for the 2010 Newport-Bermuda Race. I've managed to work this year's race into my schedule and will be taking part. We won't be able to post while enroute, however I'll be submitting some articles and pictures once we arrive in Hamilton.

Matt

MoJoe Destroys Competition in 2009 Beringer Bowl Ocean Race

Coming in first out of eleven boats, the MoJoe team was extremely happy to notch an offshore win for the 2009 sailing season -- here's a writeup from one of the crew:

Through the groggy haze of a early Saturday morning it began to occur to us that the boat might of done well. In no small part to the three horsemen - Brad, Joe G and Tom who had no real sleep and endured what must have been two inches of rain or more between about 2 AM and 4 AM.

At the start, it was a spinnaker start - fun and winds were generally on the lighter side. Later in the evening the wind speed eroded to 2 - 2 1/2 knots and we were working to keep the boat speed over 1 1/4 knots.

Wind shifts dominated - we auto-tacked what seemed like a dozen times in a row. By auto-tacked - the wind (what little there was) shifted across the bow, Genoa got backed, so we walked the Genoa around and carried on.

This period of the race was capped by what was one of the craziest spinnaker tacks: Remember the star Wars movie when Jar Jar Binks was introduced. He turns right by doing a left 270 degree turn. Well we did the same with the spinnaker. In light and shifting winds, we planned to jibe the spinnaker by flying on both sheets, and move the pole over. Classic maneuver.

However, once the wheel was over, we lost the little headway for rudder control we had and the boat kept turning into the wind. Next stop - head to wind with the spinnaker up. duhhh...thankfully we were in less than 2 knots of wind. To compound the problem we had left the blue halyard at the pulpit instead of bringing back to the mast base.

So...drop the spinnaker on the fore-deck, untangle, and re-hoist as the boat continued to slowly swing around and it fills as we end up on the proper heading. All in all it must have looked quite comical. We had a number of boats in the area that were witness to this maneuver, they all must of thought what the heck are these guys doing and man, no competition.

In the next few hours, the wind slowly built from 2.2 kts ( 1.25 kts boat speed ) up more and more. Luckily (or by design) the wind filled in from the left (more to sea) and we were the most outside boat based on continuously chasing the wind. By the time we got to the turning mark we were above the light one's upper limit in speed
but the captain had us carry it for the last few hundred yards to the tack, then we peeled in the heavy one. Wind was up to 16 kts shortly thereafter.

Bermuda Rum and dark'n'stormies followed at 6 AM followed by a couple of hours of nap by most. By 9AM the crew was up again and looking for breakfast having completed the virtual, abet brief, night.

A bit later, one of the other B class boats came in. No smiles - at all. I jokingly asked if they had seen any rain - again just grim looks. Lighten up, it's a sail boat race.

Nice work, guys! Good luck in the summer buoy-series!

A Solid Finish for MoJoe

360 miles, 90 hours, and a solid dose of nonexistant air pressure later, four members of the PHRF4 class sailed into Halifax Harbor in unison, with Lindy (PHRF 87) leading the pack and MoJoe (PHRF 78) close behind. Driving to the line, Lindy took honors with MoJoe crossing second less than five minutes later.

Overall, the race went well for MoJoe, who suffered only a disabled head in terms of equipment failures. According to crewmember Chris Grieves, the weather was perfect, with no rain or fog to deal with, and a bright moon to sail by every night.

After time corrections, MoJoe ended up in 5th place -- square in the middle of the pack. While a slightly disappointing finish after leading the pack for much of the race, the crew is happy with the placement, which is a major improvement over the last-place finish in the 2008 Newport-Bermuda Race. The team put a lot of hard work into the boat during the offseason to bring her back to racing form, and it has clearly made a difference.

Congratulations, MoJoe, on a great race effort!

Final PHRF4 Placings for 2009 Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race:

Rank Yacht Type Nation Owner PHRF Rating Time (Corrected)

1 Airborne IV BEN 50 CAN Greenwood 99 91:21:47
2 Lindy PET 38 USA Dickerson 87 92:42:28
3 Swift NY 44 USA Hudson 90 93:19:53
4 Jaded J105 USA Rugg 81 93:47:11
5 Mojoe SER 43 USA Naroski 78 94:08:52
6 Duck! BEN 367 CAN Maloney 78 94:29:50
7 Jacqueline IV HSW 42 USA Forman 99 95:31:44
8 Night Train C&C 40 CAN Moore 87 95:34:50
9 Laughing Lady SWN 44-2 USA Lippman 78 96:52:16
10 Helm's Deep BEN 367 CAN Sutton 78 98:43:20
RET Eagle J-40 USA Oviatt 78
RET Rainmaker SWN 40 USA Renz 81
RAC Veladare C&C 42 USA Myles 87

MoJoe Nears Finish

With Lindy (PET38, PHRF 87) in hot pursuit, MoJoe (PHRF 78) is closing in on the finish line. With a difference of 9 seconds per mile, MoJoe needs to finish ahead of Lindy by no less than 54 minutes to maintain first place -- at last check, Lindy was about 30 minutes behind, so hopefully Team Naroski has been able to put some distance in between the two boats.



Note: Lindy is represented by the grey-green line on the map.

MoJoe Currently Leading PHRF4

MoJoe is currently leading the PHRF-4 class of the Marblehead-to-Halifax Offshore Race by approximately 10 miles. Go MoJoe, GO!!!



Race updates can be viewed via the MHOR Race Tracker.

MoJoe Competes in 2009 MHOR

Some shots of the MoJoe crew getting ready for the 2009 Marblehead to Halifax Ocean Race:







You can follow along with MoJoe during the race by using the Race Tracker at www.marbleheadtohalifax.com

MoJoe Eeks Out Series Win

Well, overall it has been a great season for MoJoe and her crew. 2008 saw her re-emerge as an offshore warrior (Newport-Bermuda Race and Beringer Bowl Offshore Race) as well as a fierce competitor in the local series.

Each week she featured a tiny tweak here and a slight shave there, slowly bringing her back to racing form. She still has a long way to go, but the crew's labor was rewarded at the end of the summer with an unexpected series win by hanging onto first place with a slim margin of only 30 points. By unexpected, we mean that MoJoe was looking squarely at second place until a most-unbelievable situation came about:

"In order to win the series, we needed one of three possible outcomes to happen: We come in first, we come in second, or Heat Wave (J109) does not come in first. About halfway down the return leg of the course, it was pretty clear we weren't coming in first or second -- the other B-fleet boats were well ahead of us. In addition, Heat Wave was looking pretty good for the win -- Saga (J133) was first, but probably would correct lower, and Priceless (Carrera 29) was off our beam. It's possible that at 24s/m slower, Priceless (PHRF 96) may have been able to correct over Heat Wave (PHRF 72), but it would have been close.

So, there we were, munching second-place sour grapes when all of a sudden blue (harbormaster) strobes start flashing over in the harbor and the Race Committee comes over the radio, saying that the race had been cancelled! A huge coal barge was leaving Salem Harbor, and all boats -- including us racers -- needed to clear the channel. No race meant no win (and therefore, no points) for Heat Wave, and thus we were able to hang on to our top spot in the standings."

MoJoe PHRF-NE Championship shots

Some pics of MoJoe from the recent PHRF-NE Championship regatta off of Marblehead:

View the photos

MoJoe Pics

Some action shots of MoJoe from their 1st place finish at this past Thursday's Jubilee YC Fall series race:

View the photos

MoJoe Wins!

MoJoe sailed to her first series win last night in the initial race for Jubilee Yacht Club's 2008 Fall Series. Competing against MoJoe in the 'A' fleet were three other boats: Heat Wave (J109 PHRF72), Blue Finn (FinnGulf37 PHRF90), and Priceless (Carrera290 PHRF96). MoJoe currently rates PHRF72 racing and PHRF84 cruising. Conditions were primo, with relatively flat seas, 15-18kts of wind, and eight crewmembers filling out the positions.

In addition, MoJoe recently posted an extremely close second place cruising result in the 2008 Beringer Bowl offshore/overnight race, coming in second to Ares (C&C402 PHRF105) by only nine corrected minutes!

Keep up the good work (ie, fun), guys!

MoJoe Bermuda Pics

Some pics sent in from MoJoe's Andy MacInnis from the 2008 Bermuda Race -- thanks, Andy!

MoJoe Update

A Bermuda update sent in from Andy MacInnis, who handles the foredeck for MoJoe:

"Imagine the Halifax race with heat and less sleep. The Gulf Stream was two sleepless nights of short, steep chop and high winds. Add another day of pounding on longer waves after that, and you get the idea. Several rain squalls that were so strong they flattened the rough edges off of the waves. Wet, sleep deprived, hungry, almost seasick, and we finished DFL in our class. But, I can't wait for the next one. The island itself makes up for any discomfort on the race. The beaches are amazing. So much history there, too."

Congrats on finishing, Andy -- a couple more seasons with the boat and she'll be blowing away the pack in 2010.

MoJoe Reaches Halfway Point

MoJoe has crossed the halfway point and is now within 300nm of Bermuda. She's currently sitting in the middle of the pack, and sticking very close to the rhumb line.

Click here to access the race tracker

MoJoe Ready For Bermuda

Just got back from delivering MoJoe to Newport in preparation for the 2008 Newport-Berumuda Race. We left Marblehead at 12:30am on Saturday morning, put the sails up about an hour later, and sailed the rest of the way to Cuttyhunk. After a nice evening moored in Cuttyhunk Harbor, we headed on to Newport, greeting the fleet of the Onion Patch as we arrived.

With a crew of five, MoJoe handled the trip well, encountering only a couple of small issues along the way. She's running with five jibs, three spinnakers, and a brand new carbon fiber pole from Hall Spars. As with BB's comment on Fruition, the scheel keel has altered her ability to point by a couple of degrees. However, she's fairly fast on the reach, making a consistent 7.5kts on 12kts of wind with the #2 jib.

The energy in Newport is absolutely fantastic. Tons of boats and people are filling the city as the starting gun draws near. The harbor is bristling with towering masts, and gear is flying out of the shops faster than it can be unpacked and put on display.

Sitting in her slip next to the other offshore warriors, you can tell this Serendipity is back in her element, and ready to race.

MoJoe (Hull #9, Sail #15133)

2008: MoJoe (sail #15133), a Serendipity 43 owned by Joe Naroski of Marblehead, Massachusetts has recently gone in the water after a winter of hard work converting her from JAM (the cruiser) to the racer she is now. Joe is planning on entering her in the 2008 Newport-Bermuda race.

According to the records which came along with JAM, the vessel's name used to be Jammin'

"Back in 1988, 0r 1989 ther was a bitcin looking one called Jammin' in Northern Michigan. It had a silver metal flake paint job, that everyone was afraid to scratch. The owner was killed in an automobile accident the night before the Red Fox Regatta. Don't know what happened to that one though."

"Jammin in Northern Michigan in 1988 or 89, on the 2001 IMS list"

More photos of MoJoe