I just want you to know that we arrived yesterday to Hanko, Finland with Contest 35S Hardwin/Aloha. The trip took us two weeks in total including two days in harbours.
We love the boat, it behaves very well in the sea. We even experienced 30-40 kn winds (42 kn highest) between Ystad and Simrisham for few hours (a thunterstorm surprised us). She even managed in those conditions well. The layout, details and quality of work is very satisfactory to us. Now we understand much better what is the difference between (new) modern mass produced sailboat and a (preowned) seaworthy yacht . The latter works us much better.
The wing keel is not anymore a concern. We are still learning with the in-mast furling. We have had no problems with it. The Jabsco pump in the head was leaking; luckily I found a new spare in Travemünde and replaced the part. VHF seem to have problems transmitting messages, receiving is ok. We tested this with our friends who we met in Visby. We have not been able to receive any messages from NAVTEX. I do not know wether the problem is the user or the system. Otherwise, all the systems seem to work wery well.
We are very impressed about the professional and friendly purchasing process with you and De Valk. All the main steps were done promptly. Also the many smaller wishes and requirements from our part were fulfilled .
In sum, we can say we are very happy with outcome, the yacht, and dealing with you and your company. We can truly recommend your servives to anybody who is comtemplating to buy a preowned sailboat.
Best regards,
Mikko Mustakallio
