Sirena sailboats for sale

Buying a used Sirena: know which model, and whose design, you're getting

A used Sirena carries one shared origin — a Finnish yard active through the 1980s whose boats reached Italy through Adria Yacht, a Rimini-based importer that one retrospective credited with bringing a "Nordic" design sensibility to the Italian market of the day. That shared history is a start, not an answer: design credit, not the brand name, is what actually separates the line's three boats, and it's documented unevenly across them.

Which era to target

Two of the three models share solid design paperwork: the 38, dating to around 1980 with production reportedly continuing into the mid-1980s, and the 44, from the mid-1980s, are both traceable to Södergren's own design catalog. The 40, built later in the decade, is the outlier — its design credit in our catalog names David Pedrick, but nothing beyond that entry backs the attribution up. A buyer prioritizing documented pedigree should weight the 38 and 44 accordingly.

Navigating the lineup

At roughly 38, 40, and 44 feet, the three models sit in a narrow size band rather than distinct generations, so documentation — not size — should guide a buyer's comparison. The 38 is also the only model with its build spelled out down to material and fastener: a fiberglass-and-balsa sandwich forms both hull and deck, a fixed lead bulb rides on stainless-steel through-bolts, and the rudder pairs a fiberglass shell with a steel-reinforced core and a stainless shaft. That level of build detail isn't documented for the 40 or 44, one more reason the model number matters more than the badge.

The 38 also carries the line's most distinctive rig feature, a self-tacking jib. Because the sail manages its own sheet through a tack, an upwind maneuver takes far less crew effort — which suited the tight, obstacle-filled water the boat was drawn for, and equally favors anyone sailing shorthanded or threading a narrow channel rather than working open water. Combined with a Gotland Runt race entry credited to it by its own designer, the 38 stands out as the most thoroughly documented hull to look for by name. The full model directory on this page breaks out all three models individually.