ON TEST // LAGOON 51
SPACE, COMFORT AND MODERN AMENITIES ABOUND, BUT WHAT ABOUT SAILING ABILITIES? THE LAGOON 51 MAY SURPRISE YOU THERE TOO
RUPERT HOLMES
Where: Port Ginesta, Barcelona Wind: 6-12 knots; sea state slight with swell Model tested: four cabin layout, with options including hydraulic stern platform, fabric cockpit enclosure and flybridge bimini, Code 0 with electric furler and 3kW solar panels
It’s a light wind early autumn day in the Mediterranean and we’ve been sailing alternately under Code 0 and genoa at boat speeds occasionally touching 8 knots in 10-12 knots of true wind. It’s easy and fast sailing, with the boat tracking easily, yet surprisingly responsive to the helm.
Approaching an anchorage for a short stop we sail in to the 10m contour, furl the headsail and round up into the wind to drop the mainsail. At the same time the anchor goes down and we use the weight of the boat to set the hook, checking transits as the boat finally settles head to wind. Sailing into an anchorage like this is, of course, familiar to most who have sailed reasonably nimble monohulls of modest size. However, this time I’m on a vessel two stories high, that’s almost 27ft wide and weighs more than 20 tonnes.
The prototype boat’s professional skippers, Nicolas Boutteloup and Manon Pestel, have done this numerous times in the six months they’ve been on board. By the time of our test they’d sailed the boat more than 5,000 miles, having left Les Sables d’Olonne and crossed Biscay in March, en route to the Mediterranean.
They also often leave an anchorage without starting the engines. This prototype Lagoon 51 is set up with around 3kW of solar panels, giving plenty of juice for running the windlass. In fact it’s entirely self sufficient for power, despite a whopping 500lt of fridge and freezer capacity, unless the aircon is used. The only other thing it doesn’t do is heat water, although a solution to that problem may not be far off.
The rig is configured very differently to earlier Lagoons, with the mast moved forward to the front of the coachroof. This makes perfect sense from a structural engineering perspective – previously the rig sat on a longitudinal beam supported at each end of the coachroof – so the new arrangement saves weight and complexity.
It also allows for a sail plan with a large roach mainsail (or optional square top main), plus a 120% overlapping headsail. This configuration means sufficient sail area can be achieved with a shorter mast, lowering the centre of effort and
