Chapter IVIV. The Captain

Captain Jason Decker

Marine. Husband. Father. Waterman since the age of eight.

Captain Jason on the water — 30.3935° N86.4958° WDestin, FLPortrait — Captain Jason

Growing up, Jason was your typical kid with one exception — his love of anything water related. Most kids love the water; he took it to another level. Whether you’re talking about water skiing, scuba diving, tinkering with his boats and jet skis, or pushing the envelope on every one of them — his heroes were Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart, and Smokey & the Bandit.

I. From his Dad

The boy with no fear of the water.

I’ll never forget one day when he was about 10 years old. He was going across Sebastian Lake on a jet ski, full throttle, and I waved him over and asked what in the world he was doing. He said he was trying to get it to 70 miles an hour — the fastest he could get it to was 67! He never had a fear of the water, only love and passion for it. Thirty years later, he’s still trying to set speed records — I guess some things never change.He was eight years old when we bought him his very first boat. It was an old, worn-out V-bottom Jon boat that we bought at a pawn shop for $100, and we stuck a trolling motor and battery on it. He probably put 1,000 miles on it the first week. That boat also gave him a learning lesson he never forgot — and that was to put the plug in. He forgot one day and almost sank it.

— Roger Decker

II. On the water

A Marine, a husband, a father — and always a waterman.

Over the years, Jason spent time on countless boats — fishing, skiing, scuba diving, and so much more. In 2004, after graduating high school, he went to college in Fort Smith for what he says was about three weeks. From there he joined the United States Marine Corps. In 2010, he married his wife, Maria, who had never been on a boat when they met but quickly found a love for the water herself. They have two kids together — Tony and Kaleb.

Running the Great Loop was always his dream, but when Robert Youens set the record, it inspired him to get up and going. In August 2026, Jason will leave Destin, FL to complete his own journey of the Great Loop.