Windelo Owner Testimonial – Christoph and Wanderlust

The journey towards the boat of our dreams is often not as straightforward as you might imagine; sometimes you need a little helping hand. For Christoph Nelles, owner of Wanderlust – a Windelo 50 Yachting, that helping hand came from his son.

“In 2020-21 my son was 21 years old and he was trawling the internet looking at catamarans for his father,” Christoph explains: “He came across the Windelo 50 and he said ‘how do you like this one?’ Initially it didn’t appeal to me but the more I went into it the more I was convinced – and the rest is history.”

Christoph had long dreamt of sailing around the world and at the time when his son stumbled upon the Windelo, he was in search of a yacht suitable for making this dream trip. He is an experienced sailor and had previously sailed on a Privilege 585 catamaran. “The Privilege was a very solid, luxurious boat” he explains, “but for the trip I had planned I wanted something faster and lighter but still with a bit of luxury. I’m not a racing type but I like to sail fast and light wind performance was also important to me.”

“The reason I wasn’t blown away by the Windelo when my son first showed it to me is because the styling on the first few boats was quite different. After the restyle, I really liked their look. I was also really impressed by the layout with the front cockpit and how safe it was.”

Christoph was also drawn in by the eco friendly ethos of the company, particularly the hybrid electric propulsion which have worked very well for him, as he explains: “The electric concept turned out to be perfect for me. Generally I just use the motor to get out of the bay and then set the sails so the system worked very well for me.”

“It’s very rare that I feel the need for more power. Perhaps once off the Cape St Vincent against the wind and tide I felt I was pushing quite hard on the motors — and you also have the generator as backup for longer stretches, if your batteries are getting low.”

Following his break in Canet, Christoph continued on his way down the Spanish coast all the way to Tangier. Again, he was solo and enjoyed some magnificent downwind sailing with his Parasailor spinnaker up, regularly hitting 10kn as he pressed on to Tangier in Morocco. Following this, he returned to the Spanish coast, where he was able to fulfil a dream. “I have always been obsessed with the explorer Magellan and it’s my plan to follow his route around the world. To do that, you have to start in Seville (Magellan started his successful circumnavigation of the globe from Seville in 1519).”

“I therefore decided to sail up the river from Cadiz to Seville. It was incredible. It takes you two tides but I had good winds and with the tide in mu favour I was sailing 8kn over the ground up the river. It was an incredible feeling to sail through rural Spain, many miles inland at the helm of a big yacht. At the end, and you finish up in the heart of Seville which is a beautiful city.”

The layout of the boat has also worked well. Christoph opted for the U-shaped galley and this has worked a treat for him, as he explains: “Cooking is very important to me and my family so we took the U-shaped kitchen. I love this as it’s like a real big kitchen at home and for a 50’ catamaran, that’s great. On the other side of the saloon you have the big table that easily takes six so it’s great for big gatherings. The day bed is one of my favourite features of the saloon layout and all the guests love it. It’s just a great place to relax but also keep an eye on what is going on around you.”

From Bergen, Christoph sailed westwards to Inverness before heading through the Caledonian Canal where he was very unfortunate in grazing a rock located right at the edge of the channel, damaging one of the rudders in the process.