After a season of cruising and working full time, we realized that as much as we loved Silent Sky, we needed more space. We put together our list of “must haves” and “nice to haves” and started looking at listings. Someone suggested we look at the J/46, and we found one for sale in Deltaville, VA. I was hesitant to buy a J/ – we’ve raced on several (J/30, J/33, J/88, J/109) and they’re really fun race boats, but I couldn’t imagine living on one. But as I dug through the listing, she looked really comfortable and ticked pretty much all the boxes on both lists. The only drawback? Her ~65′ air draft, which meant the ICW would no longer be an option. We spent hours poring over used boat listings in our price range and even looked at the possibility of a brand-new boat. Nothing else checked as many boxes, nor was anything else as pretty. It was love at first sight, and the sea trial only cemented the feeling.
Even with her size, she handles beautifully (then again, she does have a 5′ diameter wheel), and she’s an absolute blast to sail. While she was built to cruise, racing is in her DNA and it shows in her performance. We sail her conservatively (this is, after all, our home); even so it’s not unusual for us to see speeds upwards of 8kts. The distances we’re able to cover make the trip worlds easier. Windara was the right choice, and I’m so glad to call her home.
We planned to rename her Elegant Chaos, but I didn’t get a new decal designed before departure the season we bought her. As we cruised and started meeting people that year, we ran into people who knew her previous owner, and people got to know us with her name. After cruising her for a year as Windara, it felt right to keep the name. It’s based on the Aboriginal word ‘windarra’ meaning “a place by the sea where I can rest my soul,” and that couldn’t be more fitting.
