Boat Test - Lagoon 65
WIDER WAKE
Sam Jefferson steps aboard the Lagoon 65 and wonders precisely how much space cruising sailors require
A
couple of months ago a vaguely disgruntled reader wrote a moderately miffed epistle in which he described me as ‘big boat’ Sam. I found this ironic, given that I endured the first Covid lockdown living aboard a Morecambe Bay Prawner 28 with headroom of 5’3”. However, as I sat down to write up this test, I began to see his point of view. The fact is that new boats are getting bigger and monsieur ‘big boat’ is obliged to test them. I recall some years ago testing the Jeanneau 64, a monohull aimed at cruising couples who happened to need masses of space. I thinking to myself; ‘well, this will never take off ’. How wrong I was. I guess the Lagoon 65 is the multihull equivalent; a production multihull of prodigious dimensions. Does
66
MAY 2022 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
this too spell out what is to come in the multihull market? Well, I’m no Nostradamus – see above quote re Jeanneau 64 but the difference with multihulls is that even a 50’ catamaran provides acres of space so, by the time you get to 65’, my god, you’ve got a mini cruise liner. In fact, Lagoon perhaps is not pitching to the same sector of the market as, for example the Jeanneau 64. The boat is the smallest in a line of high end multihulls initiated with the Seventy 7. These boats are pitched at a somewhat more luxurious market. In monohull terms think CNB 66 as opposed to Jeanneau 64. It’s a subtle difference but there is a hidden implication that you will probably want a crew for this yacht. Perhaps it’s therefore out of the orbit of most Sailing Today readers but, still, it’s worth a look around and a quick spin.
ABOVE The 65 has a prodigious 32' beam and acres of space as a consequence
So what have we got here? A massive multihull, that’s for sure. The hull is designed by Marc Van Peteghem of multihull experts VPLP with Patrick Le Quement doing the styling. The boat is not bad looking either given that a lot of 65’ multihulls look like a floating wedding cake. There is a certain sporty aggression to the lines that pleases the eye. The mast is set well back and twin headsails make for a versatile rig. Sail area is a substantial 268m2 but then again it is going to need all that to push its 48,000kg displacement through the water at speed. Make no mistake, this is a pure cruiser.
On deck
You step aboard via low sugar scoops with steps moulded in which makes for a very easy and stress free method of boarding even compared to some
