SWAPPING STEPS FOR SIDE DECKS

Serial Windy buyer, Tim Innes, trades his 34 Alizé for the all-new SR40

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Not another new Windy!” You may recall me starting my last article that way and I'm starting this one with exactly the same words. Yes, I know I sang the praises of my ‘old’ Windy 34 Alizé and after a year of ownership I would continue to do so. But it's up for sale and I have handed another deposit to Merveille Nautique (the Windy agent for France) for the completely new SR40. Unlike Windy’s classical sportscruisers, it's a high-performance walkaround sportsboat and that’s precisely the reason for the change!

WALKAROUND ISSUES

One of the great features of Windy’s smaller boats is that the size of the cockpit seems disproportionately large - and that's partly down to the fact that the cockpit extends right to the edge of the boat. There are no side decks of any kind. That means that if you want to use the bow for the anchor or mooring lines, you have to ascend the steps through an opening in the centre of the windscreen, dodging the edge of the bimini on your way up. Until recently, that hasn't been a problem. In fact we never even gave it a second thought. But we're not as athletic as we used to be. Climbing up the steps and balancing on the bow while dropping and lifting the anchor in a bit of a swell, or coming back to the berth, grabbing the forward mooring line from the quay and going through a small assault course to pass it up to the bow - well suddenly, it doesn't feel like one of the joys of boating!