After around three years of refit, now the moment of moments: sails up and into the wind. What will happen? Will the rig stay up? Will the new telescopic rudder break? How is the keel? Is the boat tight?
Although there were only eight to ten knots of wind on the first day, my colleague Hauke Schmidt and I put on our lifejackets - you never know.
But all fears turned out to be unfounded. With the genoa and mainsail, the "Willy" was surprisingly balanced on the helm. In fact, we were even able to retract the lower part without noticeably losing steering feel. Under gennaker, the log consistently showed around five knots. Okay, not a racer, although the wardrobe looks like one, but not bad either.
The real test was up to 18 knots of wind the next day, this time with a jib. Even with a lot of wind, the boat remained very manoeuvrable and showed a stability that really surprised us. This is a really small yacht! We had some fears because of the larger mainsail. Under gennaker, we were able to reach up to 6.5 knots, including a sun shot. But nothing happened.
So much for now, as a first small impression. We have still identified a few teething troubles and have also worked on the final positioning of a few fittings. For now, "Willy" is back on land and has to go back to the shipyard for a short time, the real test with a detailed report will follow in a few weeks.
Lars Bolle
Chief Editor Digital
