As soon as the Neel 51 was launched, she made her first tacks off La Rochelle. On Friday 17 March, she left port with a very light wind (5 knots) which was enough to reach the wind speed under spinnaker. Then when the wind strengthened (15-18 knots), the speed stabilised at 10 knots.
Honorable speeds that did not surprise the yard. Indeed, the Neel 51 has the same power-to-weight ratio as the 45. The good surprise is the feeling of helm that this trimaran offers. Contrary to catamarans, where the helm feedback gives no indication to the helmsman, on this trimaran the helmsman can really "feel" things. This is due to the very direct textile rudder lines and also to a hull design with a deep fin (1.50 m draft) as an anti-drift plane on the central hull.
Although the sun (and heat) was not present on this first outing, the yard was able to validate the coherence of the large bay window which unifies the saloon with the cockpit, but also the layout of the sundeck on the deckhouse with its large bench seat (almost a sofa) under the boom.
Please note that the boom is deliberately low, disturbing a little this sunny corner (be careful with the heads) so as not to raise the center of gravity and keep good performance.
If this first example of the Neel 51 is to sail in the Mediterranean in the future, it will be presented to the public at the Multihull Boat Show in La Grande Motte (from 19th to 23rd April 2017). As far as the boatyard is concerned, the Neel 51 n°2 is already out of the mould, whereas the N°3 is currently in the mould in parallel with a 45.
