Owner’s Description
Built to be both beautiful and rugged, Celeste has sailed from the Arctic Ocean to the tropical South Pacific. She was designed by Francis Kinney of Sparkman & Stephens for a sailor and businessman in Victoria, British Columbia. He wanted an elegant Spirit of Tradition that could cross oceans comfortably and safely.
Soon after her launch, she was awarded “Best Sail” in the 1986 Vancouver Wooden Boat Festival, a testament to the craftsmanship of her builder Bent Jespersen. Her long overhangs and curving sheer give her the look of a classic built to the Cruising Club of America Rule, but her inch-and-a-quarter-thick hull of cold-molded Western red cedar and mahogany, complete with a layer of GRP and Kevlar, provide strength and stiffness enough to withstand gales in the Bering Sea.
She is the perfect balance of simplicity and comfort, combining ease of handling with modern amenities like a water maker, hot shower, refrigerator, and cabin heater. On passage she can be handled by one person, and at anchor she is a lovely home, whether in high latitudes or the tropics.
With her previous owner, Celeste sailed a loop from British Columbia to Mexico, across the Pacific to French Polynesia, north to Hawaii, and then back to British Columbia. I’ve almost repeated that same loop since I bought her, as well as having sailed Celeste for four seasons Alaska and one season voyaging up and back through the Bering Strait to the polar pack ice at 72°N.
It’s hard to name a favorite experience I’ve had aboard her, as I’ve had so many! Watching bears fish for salmon while I sipped my morning coffee at anchor near Kodiak Island… Diving into the gin-clear waters of a South Pacific atoll to be met with an eagle ray winging past… Countless bonfires on beaches under the stars from the Kenai Fjords to the Marquesas Islands… Dolphins playing in the bow wave a thousand miles from the nearest land… Night watches with the boat sailing herself under the Southern Cross or under the Northern Lights…. These memories could fill a book!
A note on her design: While she looks like a CCA Rule boat above the waterline, she actually has a fin keel and separate skeg-hung rudder rather than a full keel. She’s a sloop, but she has a removable inner forestay: the staysail is a real workhorse that I use on all my passages.
Photos
Video
Map
No Records Found
Sorry, no records were found. Please adjust your search criteria and try again.
Google Map Not Loaded
Sorry, unable to load Google Maps API.
Comments
Post a Comment Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
16 thoughts on “40' Kinney/Jespersen Sloop (1985) - CELESTE”
Owner’s Description
Photos
Video
Map
Comments
Post a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
16 thoughts on “40' Kinney/Jespersen Sloop (1985) - CELESTE”
Such a stunning boat!!! Followed your blog for a number of years, but it’s gone a bit quiet these days! (Haha, no worries, I started one years ago, and only managed three or 4 posts, it’s a lot of work!) All the best from Vancouver, BC…
Thank you! Yes, I really let the poor blog go. It is a lot of work and I just haven’t had the time this past year. Maybe I’ll eventually get it going again! Thanks for reaching out!
Lovely photo and lots of nice comments!
Doug Cole – Bellingham
Thanks so much!
Kinney wrote the book on beautiful yachts and Celest is no exception. I would love to see her in person sometime if you make it back to the Northwest.
We enjoyed cruising the Hawaiian islands for 13 months in our boat Oceanus. We were anchored in Reeds Bay, Hilo, for about four weeks. Honomolino Bay on the Kona side was our favorite spot of all. Aloha! Brandon
Thanks so much! Agreed on Kinney – fabulous designer! You really did some cruising around Big Island to get to Honomolino Bay – that area is so beautiful. Yes, it’d be great fun to make it back to the NW eventually! Stay in touch, fair winds cruising WA!
Beautiful presentation, thanks for your excellent images. Gives me inspiration to up my skills! Thanks for the tour!
Thanks so much! Loved seeing your boat, too! Maybe our wakes will cross in AK someday!
Lovely vessel. Aloha from Ka’ū
Thomas
Thank you! Aloha from Hilo! Do you have a boat on the island too?
Awesome photography. Love it.
Thank you! We love photography, especially capturing images of our dear floating home!
SO BEAUTIFUL! Terrific video skills as well as obvious maintenance on CELESTE…love the simplicity, also. Values inherent to my boat, as well. PILAR was in Hilo for five months, in 1995 and I fell in love with the town–would love to return there to live if it were possible to stay long term. When we were there, it wasn’t–what is the situation now? Changed, or not and you are triangulating between Alaska, Washington and Hawaii? So pleased to have this opportunity to see your boat, learn of her history. Thank you for participating in this–wonderfully designed, isn’t it?
Thank you so much, Diane! Sorry I didn’t reply earlier – had some trouble logging in. Your PILAR is such a lovely, special boat! It is still very difficult to keep a boat in Hilo long-term, sadly, so yes, we bounce around the Pacific. Our shore base is on the Big Island, but we live aboard CELESTE a little less than half the year – we just sailed home from French Polynesia where we’d spent 3 years. We’ll spend at least another year or so in Hawaii, bouncing around, before we’ll probably head up to Alaska again. Someday we’d like to go west again, this time maybe in the North Pacific instead of South Pacific. Thanks so much for getting in touch – this is such a great opportunity to “meet” likeminded sailors!
AN THANK YOU, TOO, for the reply. My turn to apologize for responding late. I greatly appreciate the feedback about Hilo (sorry tho I am it is still impossible to stay there long-term). I wish we’d had a way to connect before this, when you were in the South Pacific…hope to hear more about your trip back, going back up to Hawaii. We also did that, leaving from Bora Bora, via a detour to Caroline Island then up–hard trip, late in season, but after a year of recuperation, headed back down to the Solomon Islands. I hope we can keep in touch–will enjoy hearing of your next voyages.
I’ve sent you an email so we can stay in touch after the show here closes – it’s been fantastic to meet you! I hope we can stay connected and maybe even cross tacks somewhere out there in the Pacific! The trip north to Hawaii was hard indeed! Close-hauled the whole way… we came within 80 miles of Caroline Island but didn’t stop, wish we’d been able to. Certainly not the easiest passage we’ve ever done, that’s for sure! We were also very late in the year, fully winter in the North Pacific, so that probably added to it. Would love to hear more about your voyages sometime, too!