Force 5 winds and big head seas were no match for the 40-knot Camira off Lymington
Our test of the new Windy 39 Camira lived up to its name with a stiff Force 5 breeze whipping the Solent into a churning mass of angry white horses.
The conditions weren’t much fun for our poor photographer as he bounced from wave top to wave top in Berthon’s chase RIB but they were perfect for putting the Camira’s resin-infused hull to the test.
And boy did it deliver! With the legs trimmed level and the throttles pinned down, it flew through the oncoming waves without so much as a creak, groan or slam to speak of.
SEE OUR GALLERY OF THE WINDY 39 CAMIRA
Running with the wind we recorded a top speed of 44 knots with sheets of spray exploding out from either side of us. For pure ability it’s up there with the very best 40ft production hulls we’ve ever tested.
Intended as a large open sportsboat with weekending facilities rather than a long-legged cruiser, the emphasis is firmly on the cockpit rather then space below decks.
Crescent-shaped seats that can be pushed together to make an aft-facing semi-circle or moved aside to create a central walkway are a neat touch while the transom bench has a sliding backrest so that it can double up as a headrest for the sunpads.
There’s even a small tender garage for a 2.0m inflatable. But the only seat you’ll want to be sat in is the one directly behind the leather-wrapped helm wheel.
Down below it’s all a bit cramped with no seating of any kind, a very basic microwave galley, a single shared heads and two smartly appointed but not very spacious double cabins.
The only cooking hob is up on deck, along with a sink, ice maker and lots of useful storage lockers.
There’s even a surprisingly good all-weather canopy hidden under the transom bench but don’t go imagining this is a direct rival to a Princess V39 or Sunseeker Portofino 40 – it’s nothing like as plush.
However, if you want to do 40 knots into a 4ft head sea without turning the contents of every cupboard into a heap of splinters, glass shards and broken crockery, the Camira is the way to go.
You can read the full test in the June issue of Motor Boat & Yachting, on sale 1 May 2014.
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