At the Helm of Serenity

The Vessel Operations seniors had a great opportunity to take a ride on one of Hornblower's yachts known as Serenity. Captain Jose and first mate Medina were there to greet us when we boarded the vessel at the South Street Seaport. We took a cruise around Lower Manhattan. The trip was about an hour long and I spent most of it exploring the boat. Jarely and I were sitting down talking about her summer experience when one of the crew members approached us and said Medina asked for one of us. I immediately stood up and walked to where she was at the helm. Turns out she was handing over the wheel to me! I had no idea what I was doing and with a boat filled with people, the pressure was on. Medina taught me how simple it actually was to steer such a large vessel. Your movements were small and controlled. I was at the helm for about 10 minutes and the whole time I was nervous. I'm used to our smaller vessels such as Indy and Virginia. You can see perfectly around those boats with your own eyes. Serenity is about three times the length of Indy. It was such a great experience to be at the helm of a vessel this size!