Everything will be fine! How often have we said this sentence to ourselves in the past three years when something didn't work out as expected. Or longer, sometimes much longer than planned. But yesterday everything turned out fine - even the weather over Schleswig-Holstein.
At the start of the Hamburg AncorYachtfestival, which will last until tomorrow, Dehlyin's new beauty swam right at the front of pier V, flagged over the Seldén-Topp, with a baptism bouquet on the bow.
Swims, shines, thrilled: the new old "Willy"
The response has been nothing short of overwhelming, including those from our partners and other industry experts. Several visitors asked for brochures and the price because they thought our 40-year-old lady was a new model. Even two former Dehler-25 owners from nearby Grömitz, who followed the refit project with great interest from the start, found the idea of "going into series production now" obvious.
After all these efforts, of course, nobody will dare to do that. We haven't added up the timesheets yet, and there are no bills because the partners have worked for a good cause, not for profit. But around 2500 man-hours will have gone easily into the restoration. How much exactly will be documented in one of the upcoming YACHT issues. In the meantime, we're just happy that everything went well.
Baptism too. That seemed rather unlikely a week ago, and even on Wednesday and Thursday Sven Walter von M. u. H. von der Linden, Hauke Schmidt and Nils Günter fought with rolled up sleeves in the hastily emptied ship against one or the other leak. Otherwise it would have been boring …;-). On the evening before zero hour, the construction site miraculously turned back into a nifty little boat. Phew !!!
Incidentally, the thing with the name degenerated into a last-minute maneuver. Several editorial conferences and votes in the hallways of Hamburg had not resulted in a clear favorite in the past few weeks. Somehow the responsibility seemed to weigh heavier every day.
There was no shortage of suggestions. We received more than 170 entries from readers, along with a dozen names from our own ranks - including traditional items such as "octopus" (so far all YACHT's own boats were called) or "Dehlycious" (master Sven's favorite) or "super." Eight "(because the Dehly was previously called" Super Seven ").
In the end it was Whiskey - Indi - Lim - Lim - Yankee, or "Willy" for short, the suggestion of Martin Trockels. It's nice and short, crisp and a tribute to Dehlya's spiritual father, Willi Dehler. He wrote himself with Doppel-India, but because the Dehly was a joint development by Dehler and the YACHT from the start, we found the Yankee very suitable. Martin Trockels too, by the way.
On Wednesday our art director Nils Campe designed the lettering that was to become part of the decorative stripe. Oliver Linke from Boat Sign, who was supposed to print it out in distant Hagen, was literally already at his plotter when we finally sent the file. One day later he was standing by the boat himself in Neustadt and affixing the sticker - just in time, again.
Until yesterday evening shortly after 6 p.m. the two stickers to the right and left of the stern were of course hidden under 3M fabric tape. Because only then was the (sic!) "Willy" baptized in full honor and strictly according to the protocol. Colleague Manfred Welkamer from our sister magazine BOOTE, who initiated a similar refit project, watched over the correct procedure and brought a compressed air horn with him to make everyone aware of the festive moment in the port. Thank you, Manni !!!
Then Frida, our godmother, spoke the magic words, followed by a good shot of original Dehler baptism from the nineties. The guys from Bodensee Yachting in Thal, Switzerland sent it to us from ancient stocks. The sparkling wine didn't really foam anymore and we wisely didn't try it. But he's a fine example of how an ambitious project can mobilize the whole sailing scene. Thanks for that too!
Is that it at this point? Not quite yet. Because we still have to sail in our "Willy". A last short stay in the shipyard is also on the program. And a YACHT test. In addition, several videos of the last refit stations. And then many trips, which we will also report on. So stay tuned!
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