Siren 17 vs Com-Pac Sun Cat

A Round 1 Mini-Cruiser Madness Matchup

Round-one’s tough matchups continue. This one pits the most popular Canadian minicruiser ever, the Siren 17, (How popular? 3200 were built over 13 years!) against one of top seeds in this contest, the easily-rigged and well-built Com-Pac Sun Cat.

After our test sail of the Siren 17 (SCA issue #40) we wrote: In terms of ease of trailering, rigging and launching—the Siren 17 scores high marks. She’s light enough that towing is possible even behind some of the smaller cars and mini-SUVs. Raising the three-stay mast is easy enough for solo sailors, although most employ some sort of rudimentary mast raising system.

This Siren 17 photo courtesy Andre Bergeron

On performance: Builder Fraser McGruer suggested that they purposely kept the Siren somewhat under canvassed because they knew a high percentage of buyers were novice sailors. However, with 145 sq ft of sail on a displacement of only 750 lb, we don’t think she’s particularly under canvassed—at least when compared to other minicruisers (Montgomery 15= 750 lb/ 122 sq ft Compac 16= 1450 lb/ 120 sq ft).

Owners were divided with regard to light air performance, with a few calling it poor. We thought it was at least average and maybe better. Pointing ability was considered decent by most owners, but not surprisingly the Siren appears to suffer more than her heavier brethren when fighting chop