Introductory Letter:  Michael Hetzman, skipper of the Catalina 25 "Jabberwocky", wrote the following letter to Bill Holcomb a few years ago when Bill served as the Association's editor (Telltales & Mainsheet).  The 10 month, 5,385 mile odyssey of Jabberwocky is recorded in the links at the bottom of this page.

Dear Bill,

Well, I figured that it had to be time to finish the correspondence I started with you in 1995. At that time, I had written you from Florida about my family and I taking a year off on our C25. I have actually started writing you many letters, got one nearly complete before the computer crashed, really got bogged down on another one trying to do a described narrative about each modification, and so on.

Enclosed for your perusal is a set of newsletters that I generated en route for family, friends and (reluctantly) the local newspaper. Obviously, I made many modifications to Jabberwocky, although nothing that would be considered structural or a deviation from the standard sail plan. My newsletters do not describe the C25 in detail, but Jabberwocky is hull #877, a ’78 fin keel, standard rig, w/ob poser and dinette interior. The ob is a Johnson 9.9 Sailmaster w/long shaft, electric start and alternator. (There’s a PS to the newsletter re: my problems w/the ob. After the last letter the overheating problem returned, and w/the motor on the docks at Drummond Island, Michigan, I pulled the entire motor apart (except for the lower unit gear box), piece-by-piece. I found a partially melted rubber bushing in the engine casting where the water tube enters. Now the ob really is running great.) Jabberwocky does not have roller furling; our sail inventory for our year cruising included our working jib (110%), a 150% genoa which bottom reefs to 130%, storm jib & cruising spinnaker. Before we left I had our main re-cut, tightened and a second set of reef points installed.

For electronics: knot/log, and digital depth (both ’78 original but rebuilt before leaving), Autohelm 800, ship’s VHF w/masthead antenna and a handheld VHF for cockpit use, esp. when the mast was down. Cruisers refurbishing a Tartan 31 in Mobile Alabama gave us an old loran; however, we seldom turned it on except when crossing the gulf to validate our own deduced reckoning.

I am currently working on a list of upgrades, additions and modifications. These are cruising related and won’t be of much interest to diehard racers. Instead of trying to describe in detail each improvement, I’ll simply list them. If there’s interest from any readers, I’ll be glad to do a more detailed piece.

Just curious, do you know of any other C25 voyages of similar mileage and duration?

I am one of those silent association members who really appreciates all your and the other officer’s efforts. I must have told hundreds of people while we were out that the C25 is a great economical cruiser and a well-kept secret.

Keep up the good work.

Michael Hetzman
Jabberwocky

	Kentucky Lake --  November 1994
	Mobile, Alabama  --  January 1995
	Captiva/Sanibel Islands, Florida  --  February 1995
	Vero Beach, Florida  --  April 1995
	Great Bridge Station, Chesapeake, Virginia  --  June 1995
	Blind River, Ontario, Canada  --  July 1995