The Boat
Oestara is a 2005 Sweden 42, hull number 20. We bought her in Charleston in the summer of 2019, knowing she was just the boat for this adventure we’d long been dreaming about. She is not only beautiful and comfortable, but she also loves to be sailed.
Below Deck
Her layout works really well for us, with three cabins and two heads. Our master cabin is forward, Cecelia’s is port aft, and the guest/storage cabin is starboard aft. Patrick’s favorite part is the shower in the forepeak (it’s pretty awesome, I agree). The main salon is spacious and airy, too.
On Deck
Oestara’s cockpit is well laid out for a sailor who likes sight lines (a key factor on our purchase list!) We upgraded her cushions in summer 2020, and they’ve been great.
What about that name?
Oestara came with the name, and we kept it, for two reasons: 1) it’s generally considered bad hoodoo to change a boat’s name (though we know lots of people do it!), and 2) our previous boat was named Osprey, so it seemed kind of fitting that our next boat would have a name that started with “O” as well.
Upon doing a little research, we discovered the name Oestara shares a root with Easter. Sometimes the name is attributed to a Teutonic goddess of the spring equinox, or to a pagan holiday/festival (“Ostara”) celebrating spring. In general, the name evokes themes of springtime, dawn, and renewal. All things that we liked!
We incorporated the sunrise in our boat logo as a nod to Oestara‘s meaning.
And how do you pronounce it?
Easy: oh-STAR-ah. She won’t be offended if you get it wrong, though.