How is it to discover sailing when you are a pure rower, embarking on the XP16? We asked our friend and dealer in Czech Republic Pavel Malinsky to give us his thoughts on his experience with this Row&Sail boat from an adventure in the Netherlands.
“As two newcomers to the world of sailing, me and a friend of mine (Mr. Radek Stovicek) had joined the group of other XP owners from all over Europe for a several day trip. For us it would be the first experience sailing on a defined route”
We both are quite experienced rowers with former competitive achievements. Based on that, we weren’t afraid about the stages with our XP16 powered by oars, but had natural anxiety regarding our sailing level. Our concerns grew up with the weather forecast as it promised strong wind and gusts, especially at the beginning of our trip. A lot of things were absolutely new for us, so we absorbed a lot of hints, tips and tricks from our more experienced colleagues who seemed to be born in a sailboat 😊
After the first and crazy stage in strong wind and high waves, which we made purely on oars, we started slowly to sail and step by step felt more and more confident. The stable direction of the wind on open lakes and channels in Friesland gave us background for staying at our tactics, namely to follow more experienced crews by the navigation. Set up of the sails, reefing if necessary, the same as maneuvering in narrow channels had become more and more easy and clear.
We have enjoyed each day of our adventure and felt in love to the beautiful and colorful landscape of Friesland around Sneek and Heegenmeer. We have to thanks our XP16 which navigate perfectly and we enjoyed each moment onboard. The multipurpose properties of the XP are absolutely unique and thanks to that you can sail fast on an open lake and a few minutes later row in a narrow channel through a city center with dismounted mast. It was incredible days, surrounded by nice people and spent in a fantastic boat!!!
Pavel Malinsky, Czech Republic Liteboat dealer
