Yes, I believe Niels wasn't 100A1 for a while; I first heard when over there in 2007. So I imagine he's been brave, and I'm sure his wonderful manner was good for him.
One of the wonderful things for me, and I know every Challenger, Mistral, Zephyr and Caravelle owner, was that Niels had trained under Poul Molich at Hundested Shipyard, Denmark, where the majority of our fleet was finished. Niels's time there came just after the last boats were delivered, but he carried a strong affinity to these boats through his career, resulting in the best of service to folk that, let's face it, were never going to be bringing him hours of paid design work.
The ability to discuss your decades-old boat with the original design office - and they want to talk about it - is a wonderful experience. Niels made it so.
