I arrived at the factory at 9:30am this morning and Francois and I went straight over to Wildling. She is awesome! The Outremer team have built us an amazing boat! Thanks guys!!!

Welcome Aboard!

After the handover forms were all signed, I was given the keys, and Francois left me to explore on my own for a while. The craftsmanship and attention to detail is really excellent, and all the systems and equipment on board are easy to access, and clearly labeled. Our goal of keeping things simple and efficient has definitely been achieved.

Port helm station. It’s the first time I have seen the dodgers on a 5X. Francois described them when we ordered them, and sent us pictures of the frames, but seeing them fully assembled was really great! They offer lots of protection, but are not obtrusive and still give excellent visibility. I came to love them even more when we went sailing later in the day.

It was also nice to get the schematic drawings so I could see how everything was installed. The documentation package from Outremer is very thorough. Detailed drawings of every system on the boat, along with an owner’s operating guide, and binders with manufacturer’s user guides for everything installed.

Going through the delivery checklist.

After lunch we went sailing. Conditions were excellent with wind from the WNW between 15 to 20 knots gusting to 32 knots. Wildling was perfectly comfortable in all conditions with full main and full self tacking jib. We hardly ever went below 10 knots of boat speed and hit 19.8 knots on a close reach. I’ve never gone this fast on a sailboat before and it’s truly a thrill. The sensation of speed is incredible, and even though we were rocketing along, Wildling felt perfectly safe and stable the whole time.

The sail handling was no trouble at all. The new 2:1 halyard system makes raising the mainsail fast and easy. Lowering the main was also easy. The self tacking jib pretty much takes care of itself, and was no trouble to manage. I took a lot of video while we were out on the water, and will post that as soon as I get a faster internet connection.

In the meantime, here are some photos I took this morning during my first time onboard.

This is the view from the hatch in the ceiling of the master bunk.

Master suite looking forward. I have closed the sliding door on the right side of the companionway which seals off the master suite for privacy. It also allows access to the freezer.

Port transom with the carbon pole we use to mount the radar dome. Because we have a rotating mast, we needed to keep the radar in a fixed orientation so it displays the position of targets correctly.