Leaving Charleston

After five fantastic days in Charleston it was time to leave. We left the harbour in a very cool way with the sails up from the very beginning! But back to that in a moment, first I want to say a few words about Charleston.

Charleston is an amazing small American city with a touch of European culture. If you don’t see to the straight streets and all the crossroads it could be a very hot European city. This city is one of the best cities I’ve ever been to! Charleston has got a lot of history; it is one of the oldest cities in the states and it’s been a central place for slave trading. The city has also got a lot of amazing restaurants with a bunch of really good food. We went to a restaurant called “167 raw” and it’s famous for their oysters. When we came to 167 it was a two-hour long line and we didn’t have the energy for waiting that long. But the other restaurant we went to had good oysters as well. It wasn’t just the city that was good, the citizens were extremely welcoming and polite. Everyone asked about the boat and many people had some connection to Sweden.

Enough about Charleston and back to the very cool sailing from the quay. At 09.00 am we started preparing for the departure. We knew that we were going to sail into a storm and everything that was lose was stowed away and secured. At 10.00 am the pilot arrived, and the manoeuvre started. Leo, who is our second officer, was in charge. With the mooring lines still at the quay we started to set the sails in the fore and then the wind was supposed to push Gunilla out. There was one problem though, there was a tidal stream in the wrong direction. After a few minutes it came more wind and we were pushed out. In one sweaty moment the aft nearly hit the quay but with a little help from the propeller we managed to go clear. After about 30 minutes Gunilla was turned 180 degrees and almost every sail was set except the mizzen, and we were heading for Bermuda.