CREW-LONDON TO LAGOS,PORTUGAL

Benny Shiner

leaving St. Kathrine's Dock

Chris and Ben Donoghue

Michael Last

and

Pablo Jeczmien

Maiden voyage La Rochelle to London

LAUNCH and TRAINING La Rochelle

CREW- MAIDEN VOYAGE

CONSTRUCTION BEGINS

Callisto's construction ( hull # 58) was commenced in the early spring of 2007 at Chantiers Amel, La Rochelle, France. My brother, Ralph and I went to the factory in March to review progress and finally make decisions as to how Callisto would be optioned. Amel yard now only makes one model, i.e. the 54 and as they are production boats there is little discussion regarding the basic construction. If you want a sloop instead of a ketch or if you want to change the configuration of the galley you will be seriously out of luck as they are only built one way, the Amel way.

The advantage of this is that at the end of the process, you know that you will have the benefit of Amel's cruising philosophy that has evolved over more than forty years and a boat strongly built of the finest materials and components. Making them all the same allows for consistency in constuction and keeps costs down. I didn't want a shipyard going to school on my dime and Amel represented the best value for me. These boats are offered complete with everthing you need for basic cruising but there are opportunities to customize your boat from a long list of options that are added at the factory.

THE MYTH OF CALLISTO

The Story of Callisto

Callisto was a nymph (or, according to some sources, the daughter of Lycaon) who was associated with the goddess of the hunt, Diana. Young women who were devoted to the goddess hunted with her regularly, and remained virgins, like Diana herself. Callisto had upheld these ideals faithfully, and she quickly became Diana's favorite.
While Callisto spent her days and nights with Diana’s other followers, she caught the eye of Zeus. Knowing that the maiden had taken a vow of chastity, Zeus resorted to deception to get at Callisto. He came to her disguised as Artemis, and the young huntress let down her guard. Seizing the opportunity Zeus seduced her.

Callisto became pregnant, and tried desperately to conceal her condition form the goddess. After all, she had, in a way, broken her vow to the goddess and she feared her anger. Callisto had been successful for a time, but then a day came when all of the young women who followed Artemis disrobed to bathe together in a spring. By now Callisto was beginning to show, and once she was naked her secret was revealed. Diana was furious and she banished the young woman from her fold. Callisto wandered off to have her child alone.
Hera (Zeus’ wife) decided that this was the time to exact her revenge. She gripped Callisto's hair and threw her to the ground where the new mother was transformed into a bear. The hunter became the hunted. The child that Callisto had by Zeus was spirited away by Hermes to be raised by his mother, Maia. He was named Arcas, meaning "bear," and he grew up to be a fine hunter himself.
When Arcas was out hunting as a young man he encountered the bear. Callisto recognized the handsome youth as the son she could not raise herself. Forgetting her present form, she tried to come near him, but her loving mother's arms were now strong, furry paws, and her once soothing voice was now a rumbling growl. The bear scared Arcas, and he took aim at her with his spear. Zeus took pity on his former victim and intervened. He placed Callisto in the sky as the constellation Ursa Major, or "great bear," and then took Arcas and placed him in the sky near his mother as Ursa Minor, the "little bear."

OUR NEW AMEL

Callisto is our second Amel sailboat. Our first, also called Callisto, was a Super Maramu 2000 Hull # 369 delivered in La Rochelle, France in June of 2002. Our plan initially, was to retire in 2004 and circumnavigate on this very excellent yacht. I brought the boat back to Southern California, where we reside, through the Panama Canal in 2002 and 2003 when it became evident that family and work commitments would not allow us to leave at that time. When the new Amel 54 was launched in 2005, I was introduced to it by Joel Potter, the Amel agent for the USA and I new that my prize for working an extra few years was going to be the new model. The original Callisto was therefore sold in January, 2006 and the next day I put down a deposit on the new Callisto