For me, the most impressive aspect of Windy's design philosophy has always been their persistent refusal to compromise practicality in the interests of fashion.
Data
Overall length 40ft 6in (12.34m)
Hull length 36ft 9in (11.19m)
Beam 11ft 5in (3.48m)
Displacement 6.4 tonnes light
7.5 tonnes loaded
Draught 3ft 1in (0.93m)
Air draught 10ft 0in (3.05m)
Fuel capacity 207 imp gal (940lt)
Water capacity 53 imp gal (240lt)
RPM 2,100 2,400 2,700 3,000 3,300 3,600 3,900
Speed 12.1 15.8 19.8 24.5 28.5 32.0 35.5
Trim 4.0° 4.5° 5.0° 4.0° 3.5° 3.0° 3.0°
GPH 6.1 7.7 9.7 12.1 15.4 19.6 23.9
MPG 2.00 2.06 2.05 2.03 1.86 1.63 1.48
Range 331 341 339 336 307 270 244
Range allows for 20% reserve
100% fuel, 50% water, 4 crew
Flat water, Force 1
Flat out 35.5 knots, 244miles @ 3,900rpm
Cruising 28.5 knots, 307miles @ 3,300rpm
Price from £207,170 inc VAT
Price as tested £216,900 inc VAT
Designer Hans Jørgen Jonsen, 1997
RCD category B (for 12 people)
Accommodation
With this size of sportsboat, the principal design decision to be made is between one sleeping cabin or two. The former option provides a larger saloon and a bigger cabin, as on the Cranchi Endurance 39 for instance, but the second cabin disappears. The similarly sized Bora is for those who expect more people to sleep on board. With two separate sleeping cabins, and a saloon with a convertible settee-berth, up to six adults can sleep aboard.
Gulio Oldrati, Windy’s Italian joinery specialist, has once again produced a beautifully crafted interior with a flawless finish. This is not just surface gloss, it’s backed up with great behind-the-scenes finish, such as finger joints on the door frames that provide more strength than the usual butt joints. Scandinavia’s long hours of daylight seem to have affected the lighting though.
There’s a solitary, inadequate halogen in the heads, and although the saloon is OK, the cabins are borderline. Strangely, the sleeping cabin light switches are in the saloon, so to douse the lights at night, you would have to emerge from your cabin into a saloon that could be occupied. If there’s a logic to Windy’s arrangement, I’ve missed it.
Windy’s seating is extremely comfortable, and the Bora’s U-shaped settee can swallow six adults with ease, although the table size would limit the numbers to four at mealtimes. Odds and ends can sit on the two shelves and behind the seatbacks, and there’s more storage under the seats. With the cover hiding the two-burner paraffin hob and the sink, the galley has a good-sized worktop. Stowage is good too, with four drawers and a beautiful drinks cabinet that slides out from inside the locker. As sportsboat galleys go, this one is definitely above average.
The two sleeping cabins are almost mirror images. Both have a hanging locker, a seat, and two more small lockers. Pumps absorb the space beneath the starboard berth, but the port-side berth gains an unlined locker. At 5ft (1.5m) wide, the starboard berth is a foot wider than the one to port, and with little effort can be made up either as a double or two singles.
There’s plenty of stowage in the heads compartment. The glassfibre mouldings here are finished to a high standard, although in these days of lovely marble and Corian finishes, I thought that the simple moulded basin and countertop was perhaps a little austere for a £200,000-plus boat. There is no stay to restrain the heavy glassfibre moulding covering the toilet - men wishing to start a family might want to add one.
With the introduction of the Bora, Windy have finally joined the tender-under-the-sunbed club, of which many of the leading European builders are already members. But the designers at Windy have never slavishly followed fashion: their philosophy has always been that form should follow function. So you might expect them to come up with something out of the ordinary and what they have produced is quite unlike anything else.
Contact
Express Cruisers
Tel: 01590 673312
Fax: 01590 676353
Email: brokers@berthon.co.uk
Email: sales@windy.no
Pros
- - Refusal to compromise practicality for fashion.
- - Well placed handholds
- - First rate engineering and construction.
- - Fine performance.
- - Excellent handling, especially the sportsboat-like steering qualities at high speeds.
- - Superb helm position.
- - Low noise readings make it less tiring to travel at speed.
- - A good galley, very comfortable seating, and a flawless finish on the American cherry joinery.
- - Good storage
Cons
- - No access to the engineroom while the tender is in place - a significant shortcoming.
- - A few details aside, it's really only the lighting that is less than brilliant: one solitary, inadequate halogen in the heads, and although the saloon is OK, the sleeping cabin light switches are in the saloon.
