Sailing Vessel Joss
Joss is a well appointed 40′ Hunter Legend sailing sloop. Joss is a U.S. Coast Guard documented vessel that began her sailing life in charter in the US Virgin Islands. She was sailed to Guam in 2003 via Aruba, the Panama Canal, Hawaii and Ponhpei. So much for Hunters not being blue water boats. Joss is an ideal fit for Guam sailing. Topside, she offers a large dry cockpit complete with dining facilities, spacious forward decks for sunbathing and dolphin watching and a walk-thru transom with swim platform and freshwater shower for swimming and snorkeling. Below decks, Joss boasts a large main salon, fully equipped galley, 3 cabins and 2 heads.
I am fortunate to have owned and sailed Joss around Guam since 2003. She was almost lost a couple times before arriving. In the early 1990’s, I couldn’t afford a boat like this, so I came up with a down payment and put her in charter in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Worked pretty good, the mortgage was gettig paid and I was banking enough cash to pay te balance at end of the charter contract. The problem was, I was working in Korea and couldn’t get to the USVI to use my time, or supervise maintenance. As I later learned, maintenance was fair, but lacking. Almost lost her when the charter company had a disagreement with the marina manager. I received a fax that the charter company manager fled the island and the marina manager chained the boats to the docks. Nothing much I could do from Korea. The next day, I received another fax that Joss had been out on a charter and was returned to a different marina on the other side of the island. I quickly signed with another charter company and Joss was saved.
In late 2002, a friend of mine agreed to sail Joss from the USVI to Guam. I paid all expenses. He was to take his own route via the Galapagos, Tahiti and other islands he always wanted to sail to. All went well through the Panama Canal. About 500 miles out of the canal, a rear stay snapped and the mast broke in half. Lesson learned. Replace the standing rigging every 4 years. Don’t rely on a survey. Joss had been recently surveted, but surveys don’t always find corrosion inside rigging. He called me on the Iridium sat phone I had provided for the voyage. Another good lesson learned. I called the US Coast Guard on Guam who contacted the Coast Guard on the West Coast. The Coast Guard flew fuel out to the boat and diverted a ship to provide additional fuel. My friend was able to safely motor back to Costa Rica. Saved the boat and more importantly the lives of my friend and the one crew member with him.
To my surprise, my friend agreed to stay with the boat, step a new mast and continue the delivery. I procured a new mast from U.S. Spars and rigging materials and tools from West Marine and shipped everything to Costa Rica. It took about 6 months, but Joss was re-rigged and delivered to Guam via Hawaii and Ponhpei. An expensive venture and a few more grey hairs, but Joss arrived and saw plenty of sailing on and around Guam.