Funny this came up today. Yesterday I was flying my Aeroworks electric Extra and as soon as I took off I knew the wind was going to come up any second. At about 50 feet the plane was getting kicked around. You are correct, on the down wind leg you have to at least be flying faster then the wind speed or your controls get mushy. The only way I was able to land was to get over the runway and kill power and hold the plane into the wind. Every flight I had to do a Hairier landing, just float down. I knew someone was going to say they were flying in a 20 MPH wind so we pulled out the wind Gage just to prove them wrong, my 17 ounce plane just doesn't fly very well at all in real high wind. The Gage was only showing a 13 MPH wind and it would drop down to about 8 MPH then jump back to 13 MPH. I don't think I could ever get it to land in a 20 MPH wind, 13 was a lot of fun though and mine isn't under powered.
I'm surprised you maidened your new plane in a strong wind! The YAKs and Extras can handle it, landing is always the big thrill though. Glad it went well for you. I don't know if my wing will take much more then 15 MPH or not but stunting with the motor off was a lot of fun!