The fun is back in boating

published 2 July 2013

It's not just humans that put on weight and acquire an excess of stuff as they get older, says Alan Harper in the FT's How To Spend It. "Machines suffer the same fate." As technology improves and expectations increase, cars and boats become stuffed with more and more complicated electronics and refinements. This trend is reversing in a "new desire for simplicity".

Windy Boats has "read the runes more deeply than its rivals", says Harper. Its 31 Zonda model reflects a yearning for a time when boating was simpler and more fun.

The Zonda is "fast, exhilarating, capable and above all simple", with a classic, wave-slicing design. It has "no mast, no hardtop, no second cabin just a big double berth, room to breathe down below and a safe and practical cockpit". This is a "boat for people who love boats" an expression of pure, undiluted fun".

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It is awesome, agrees Carl Richardson in Motorboats Monthly. Windys "look great and handle well", but "the main reason I love them is that I can actually afford to buy" one.

If you want something "fabulously fast with an overnight cabin", you'll struggle to find one with "the class and ability on offer here". As long as you only plan short stays aboard, you can "buy a Zonda and be happy for a very long time".

Price: £200,000Length: (overall): 9.6mBeam: 2.97mWeight including engine: 4,200kgFuel tank: 517 litresFresh water tank: 100 litresBerths: 2-3 people

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