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Sirenuse has shed her prestigious past to be home to one unassuming family on a mission to endow their children with life-enriching experiences.
by Kate Simpson
photography by Jim Raycroft
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04/01/2005
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| Feadship 126 |  |
"A lot of people are finding us really bizarre. We are like
forty-foot sailboat owners," the husband said, as he and his family prepared to
embark on a circumnavigation that could take as long as three years.
But unlike small sailboat owners, they will be traveling on a
classic Fritz de Voogt-designed Feadship. Launched from the Van Lent shipyard in
1978 as Claybeth, the 126-foot yacht was most recently
known as Lady
Allison, plying the waters of the Mediterranean and
Hudson River with her New York society owners, Leonard and Allison Stern. Two
owners earlier, she was the stately Highlander owned
by Malcolm Forbes. Now, after a yearlong, hands-on refit at Merrill Stevens,
the Feadship, renamed Sirenuse, is a floating home and school.
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"Because we have money, our kids are going to be kind of ruined
to begin with," the husband said. "We feel a great urgency to protect them from
things like exclusive private schools, country clubs and television. We want
them to say, ‘I’d rather go snorkeling with my money than buy a Ferrari.’
Top: Before. Bottom: Having once received dignitaries and corporate
VIPs, the yacht‘s dining room-turned-classroom now caters to three kids and a
toddler. (Click images to enlarge)
"This is about taking them away from this society that we live
in, which is so consumption-oriented. This is not about getting out to sea. It’s
not about being stern-to in St. Barths drinking Veuve Clicquot. This is about
putting ourselves in a situation where we’re forced to adapt."
Full of wanderlust, he and his wife were preparing to move
their family from the United States to Tasmania. Then 9/11 gave them some pause.
When the wife became pregnant, they revamped their relocation plans. "We thought
we’d keep the adventure going, get a boat and see the world," said the
husband.
"We would have loved to have been on a sailboat, but with four
children we needed a more stable platform," he continued. They required a very
specific interior arrangement to accommodate the children’s bunkroom and
classroom. Raised pilothouse yachts were not considered since the husband’s old
college roommate would be joining them as captain, along with his wife and
four-year-old daughter. There had to be a proper captain’s stateroom aft of the
bridge. His daughter would bunk with the owners’ eight- and six-year-old.
Top: Before. Bottom: The owner’s youngest (15 months at press time)
will sleep in a crib tucked in the master stateroom’s corner, until she’s
old enough to join the other children in the bunkroom. The accommodations also
include a twin stateroom for guests. (Click images to enlarge)
"This was the only yacht in our price range that offered us all
those options spatially," said the husband. The Feadship pedigree was also a
draw. The yacht had the proven range, between 4,000 and 4,500 nautical miles,
and a stable, fuel-efficient full-displacement hull.
"We didn’t think it was in as bad a shape as it was," he added.
"I didn’t do a full survey because I knew I wanted to zero-time the engines and
generators. I knew I was going to replace all teak decking, paint, gut the
interior and buy new appliances. The only place we really found trouble was in
the steel."
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