We mariners personify yachts all the time, but it’s rare to give one a full-blown psychiatric evaluation. If you did so with the Tiara Sport 43 LE, however, you’d quickly nail down split personalities as the diagnosis.
Sitting at anchor or tied to the dock, the 43 LE is mellow, relaxed and willing to do just about anything to make you comfortable and happy. But the boat changes when you crank the standard stereo system’s Fusion head unit, JL Audio digital amplification, eight speakers and two subwoofers. Then the 43 LE turns into a party platform. And if you unleash the 1,350 horses strapped to the transom, there’s yet another completely different character: a determined athlete.
When the 43 LE is in cheerful host mode, the cockpit will be the center of activity. Tiara designed this part of the boat to serve equally well in multiple scenarios, equipping it to change form in two significant ways.
The first way the cockpit adapts is with the entertainment unit, which has two loungers with flip-up footrests on one side and an integrated grill and stowage compartment on the other side. I hesitate to call either side the front or the back because the entire unit spins 360 degrees. You can position it so the loungers face aft for watching sunsets over the bay, or spin it 180 degrees so it’s facing forward for cruising, or spin it to 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock with the loungers facing the port or starboard seating aft on the bridge deck for socializing.
The second way the cockpit adjusts its attitude is via what Tiara calls the portside “terrace.” Ready to drop the hook and enjoy some party time at anchor? Press a button, and this side of the cockpit lowers to water level. Considered in total with the platforms on each side of the outboards, and with the lounger facing aft, the space as a whole feels more like a mega-yacht beach club than an expanded swim platform.
And note that when I ran the boat, I saw zero water intrusion at the hullside seam, something I can’t say about every boat I’ve been on with expansion elements.
Transitioning from the cockpit to the bridge deck, there’s a feature that allows this part of the boat to change its character too. There’s no after bulkhead or the usual roll-up canvas, snaps and straps to fumble with for climate control. Rather, just grab the stainless-steel handles to each side and pull. Clear canvas doors slide out of the hardtop’s after supports and latch together in the center. Release the catch, and the spring-loaded system rolls those canvas doors right back up inside.
In one fell swoop, Tiara has done away with one of the most aggravating aspects of having a boat with a removable enclosure. Added bonus: Because the canvas runs in tracks at the top and bottom, there aren’t any gaps, so the setup also reduces engine noise much better than any snapped-on enclosure could.
Ready to switch from relaxed mode to a hard-charging personality? When throttled up, the triple Mercury Racing 450R outboards flex some serious muscle. (Triple Yamaha 425 hp XTOs are also available.) The Tiara 43 LE I was aboard ripped across the Chesapeake Bay at 51.1 knots with five people and a two-thirds load of fuel in the amidships tank (located there to minimize the fuel level’s effect on trim). The top speed of 51 knots made me think that if the boat were run light, it could touch that magical mile-per-minute mark. Tiara representative Josh Emmick said he had achieved precisely that mark a few days earlier.
Swing the wheel hard over at cruise speed or while going full tilt, and the yacht’s 21-degree deep-V hull digs in and carves a turn half as wide as virtually any boat this size rigged with inboards and rudders. Dockside handling was above par with the joystick control; in fact, when we returned to a cramped and crowded marina to parallel park with maybe 3 or 4 feet of clearance fore and aft, docking was simply a matter of lining up next to the opening and then nudging the joystick sideways.
Chances are you’ve thought about the yachts you’ve owned through the years as having personalities of their own. The Tiara Sport 43 LE is clearly more than a single somebody, and owners can share the ride in the company of whichever personality they please—whenever they choose.
Take the next step: tiarasport.com
