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Lagoon 52': A bold development

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The arrival of the Lagoon 400 in 2009 pushed the 410 towards the exit. The 450 and 560 generation inaugurated some very creative volumes and the appearance of the Nauta interior design did the same with the 500, trapped in a pincer movement by these two champions of life aboard. The Lagoon 52 replaces its elder sister, with an innovative sail plan. Revolution, or development?

Back to the future

The IOR monohulls of the 70s flew enlarged genoas. The half and one-tonners and maxis thus paid their tribute to a rule which favoured this configuration, but they also understood that the area flown forward of the mast is not perturbed by the spar. Cruising monohulls plunged into the gap, despite dubious manoeuvrability, resulting from the inappropriate fittings of the time. The fashionable short (chord), deep keels, reinforced the unsuitability of these boats to the coastal cruising and beaching which are nevertheless practiced by the majority of users. The contemporary Snowgoose catamarans (from Prout) were a big hit amongst British sailors who didn’t stop praising their truncated mainsail (this is how it appeared in the 80s!), shallow draft and moderate beam, which allowed them to emigrate to the warmer latitudes of the Mediterranean by taking the gastronomic Canal du Midi. The message sent by Phil Weld winning the 1980 Ostar with the 50’ Newick MOXIE, equipped with a rig he himself described as ‘geriatric’ was even less well understood, as shortly afterwards the racing catamarans were flying mainsails with a huge area and acrobatic roaches, with Hobie Ca...

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