Sirena Yachts, the powerful Turkish builder, is on a roll. They launched their new 64 in Dusseldorf in January and had sold four by the time they had a second 64 and a brand-new 56 at the Yachts Miami Beach show last week. And they gathered all their heavy guns there for the world-wide debut of the 56: Ipek Kirac, the company’s CEO; German Frers, one of the foremost designers in the world, who drew the hull and exterior; and Tommaso Spadolini, of Design Studio Spadolini in Florence, who did the interior. “The U.S. market is very important to us,” Ms Kirac said, in a considerable understatement.
Standing on the dock, Frers told us (George Day, my partner and publisher of Cruising Odyssey, and me) that the boat’s “distinct appearance shows the strong character of an expedition yacht,” while the semi-displacement hull “gives the best performance at a wide range of speed. It means the owners can cruise in comfort and safety with low fuel consumption and explore all corners of the globe.”
Then Spadolini took us through the boat, a treat in itself. With its clean, contemporary European lines and curved wraparound pilothouse windows, the Sirena 56 does create its own distinct look. Inside, the large salon, with galley aft, is filled with natural light from large side windows. Below, the master is full-beam midships, and is large even for a 56-foot boat, but the real surprise was the forward VIP stateroom, with the queen-sized berth aft, under light flowing down from a pilothouse skylight, and two comfortable settees and a table in the bow. We all agreed that we couldn’t decide, if we were the owner, whether to claim the master suite as home or this forward VIP; both have luxurious en suite heads with showers. A third cabin for the crew, with its own head, is aft, accessible from the swim platform.
The flybridge also was appealing, with the upper helm to port and a highly varnished table and U-shaped lounge to starboard. Aft, there’s a shower under the radar arch, plus a wet bar and two chaises for sunbathing.
With standard 650-hp CAT diesels, Frers said the boat cruises at 16 knots and tops out at about 24 knots. At its most economical speed of 10 knots, range is 850 nm with a 10 percent fuel reserve.
Specs.: LOA: 61’6”; Beam: 17’3”; Draft: 3’2”; Disp.: 60,000 lbs.; Fuel: 951 gals.; Water: 211 gals. Power: (Standard) 2×650-hp CAT C8.7 diesels; (Optional) 2×850-hp CAT C12.9 diesels.
