GO FURTHER I SAIL BETTER I BE INSPIRED September 2015 | sailingtoday.co.uk | £4.20 Sea change Sirius’s latest 40-footer sets a new cruising standard Nominated for Blue Water Cruiser of the Year

Boat test ~ Sirius 40 DS

PERFECT STRANGER With Brutalist presence, the Sirius 40 DS dares to be different but, just as importantly, Sam Jefferson finds her a hugely capable cruiser ALL PHOTOS: JAVIER SARDA short story before we get down to brass tacks here. Back in the 1980s the Schmidt family was heading off for a quick yachting holiday. Given that they owned and ran the Sirius boatyard in the north of Germany between Hamburg and Kiel and they were cruising their local baltic waters, this was very much a busman’s holiday. After a week largely spent huddling down below while a frigid drizzle gently pattered down, the...

Monolithic structure Yet of course, the overriding feature is that massive deck saloon. There is something deeply unapologetic about this monolithic structure; it’s certainly not trying to pretend to be anything other than what it is. Aside from adding space and light, that high deckhouse means that stability in the event of a knockdown is greatly improved. This is one of those rare yachts with no angle of vanishing stability. The deck saloon is also less prominent on the 40 than on the Sirius 310 and 35, the longer waterline offsetting the height somewhat. Step aboard and you immediately know...

the helmsman, being hooked on to a stanchion that is also an integral part of the cockpit table. The mainsheet is on an 8:1 system and is secured with a Harken camcleat. There are two large Andersen winches set well aft and also within easy reach of the helmsman and a single electric winch on the deckhouse used for raising and lowering sails. The large deck saloon is the key to this boat’s huge volume Large hull lights illuminate the doubledecker set-up below Space ship? Enough of this technical stuff. The dominant feature is that deckhouse and we all want to know how it affects the interior...

passage which takes you down to a wonderfully appointed workspace replete with custom-fitted multi layered toolkit and excellent access to the engine (below left). Sirius reckons its 40 has the same amount of space as a normal 47ft yacht and I’m inclined to agree. By this point you start to swear that a cruising yacht without a deck saloon is rather like a pencil without any lead – pointless. Ha – all very well you say, but what’s the point of a fancy double-decker bus set up when the yacht looks like the back end of one? Well, I admit her looks are certainly individual but they are not without...

SAM’S VERDICT If I was planning to sail around the world and live aboard, this is the yacht I would go for. She’s solid, meticulously thought out, extremely comfortable to live with and superbly finished. The ‘eye-level’ concept in the cockpit and saloon and double-decker accommodation both work a treat, making sailing a much more sociable activity. The only real question mark here is that 90 per cent of us don’t use our yachts for bluewater cruising and all those ingenious touches are frankly a bit wasted on a weekender. That said, you will have the most comfortable and individual weekender...

Contact: Torsten Schmidt phone +49(0) 173 653 87 21 ■ ■ r. i