A night aboard Celeste of Solent
October 2nd, 2009 by Fred
Although she is not as extreme as a VOR70, Celeste is not really a classical cruising yacht. Her length of 20 metres, 31-metre carbon-fibre mast, 235 m2 of sails and very high level of equipment rank her among the exceptional boats. Welcome on board!
We left Travemünde in Germany just after lunch and our goal for this leg was to reach Swinoujscie in Poland. My team took its watch at midnight. Flemming, our team leader, has been steering for the last hour. The wind is now around 25 knots, right in our back. These are not what we call bad conditions, but the waves make steering quite tricky. Christian replaces Flemming but, after less than three minutes, he makes an unexpected gibe. Fortunately, we had installed a safety rope long before this to prevent the boom suddenly changing side, which could result in some damage. So Flemming prefers not to repeat the experience and asks me to take the wheel.