About Lagoon Catamarans
The Lagoon brand of catamarans (www.catamarans-lagoon.com) are among the most popular cruising multihulls of today. The brand actually reaches back to 1984, when the JTA (Jeanneau Techniques Avancées) special division of Jeanneau was formed to make fast and competitive multihulls. Among these was the iconic JTA Lagoon 55 which was introduced in 1987. Soon after, Lagoon catamarans were being built in Bordeaux by the famous CNB yard. This was acquired in 1992 by Groupe Bénéteau who then introduced their much more cruising oriented new Lagoon models for the 1990s. The Lagoon 410, first launched in 1997, became a benchmark for production catamarans and was a tremendous success, as was her smaller sister, the Lagoon 380. Both sold in very high numbers and were unmistakable with their unique, vertical saloon windows. Since then, Lagoon has constantly further developed their models for ever more comfort on the water. Most popular catamarans in our sail design library are Lagoon 400, Lagoon 440, Lagoon 450, Lagoon 500, Lagoon 570 and Lagoon 620, and the later models Lagoon 40, Lagoon 42 Lagoon 46.
Sail-plan for Lagoon Catamarans
The typical cruising multihull like a Lagoon mostly features a large, full batten mainsail, powerful with maximum roach, and smaller upwind headsails with large reaching sails on furling gear for fast and comfortable reaching and downwind sailing. Multihull sails need to be made especially tough as many are used for extended blue water cruising. When a squall hits, the sails and the rig of a catamaran take the full impact and have to absorb a significant shock-load, without “giving way” through heeling as a monohull usually would.
Typical sail choices for Lagoon Catamarans
The main “driver” upwind is the powerful and strongly made mainsail as mentioned above. This needs to have a perfect shape and must also be easy and quick to reef, which is a main consideration in sail design and detailing when it comes to items like strong patches and reefing cringles. As many Lagoons are used for ocean sailing, we recommend our dedicated ocean standard cruising sails made for higher dependability and better UV resistance. Also, very popular with multihull sailors are our options for easily handled reaching or downwind sails such as the Rolly Tasker Sails Screecher.
Mainsails for Lagoon Catamarans
At Rolly Tasker Sails, we offer dedicated, innovative multihull sails. Cruising sails for multihulls are made either from top-quality Dacron for easy handling and durability, or our unique Hybrid Dyneema fabric for even better performance. For extra performance, some multihull sailors prefer sporty square-top mainsails with extra drive and twist. However, for cruising and ocean sailing we recommend the large roach mainsails, also with the option of a specially strengthened twin-ply leech that is designed to take the high loads that are common here. For extra durability on long passages, we also offer the option of extra webbing protection, where the full-length batten pockets are prone to chafe against the shrouds.
Headsails for Lagoon Catamarans
The typical headsail for a cruising multihull would be either a self-tacking blade jib for easy upwind sailing or a good, medium-sized all-round furling genoa than can cope with a wide range of wind speeds. In any case, a serious UV protection of the furled sail for cruising especially in tropical waters is a must. Our Sunbrella UV protection perfectly fits this requirement.
Reaching Sails for Lagoon Catamarans
Especially valid for your cruising catamaran is our range of reaching sails, each of which will greatly enhance your sailing experience. These include modern reaching sails such as our specially designed multihull Code 0-type sail, the Screecher, for a range of reaching angles from a broad reach right up to, in light winds, a close reach or even upwind sailing.
The Screecher is in effect a cross between a Genoa and a deeper reaching sail. On a multihull, this sail will increase the boat speed and shift the apparent wind angle forwards, so the profile is flatter than that of any typical reaching or downwind sail for monohulls.
The Screecher is in fact so versatile that it is often permanently hoisted outside of the headsail on a dedicates furling gear, ready for instant use. Or it can be set “flying”, also on its own furler, with an anti-torsion cable from the head of the sail to the drum of the furler to enable a smooth furl.
A Screecher is made by us from top-quality, low stretch Dacron or cruising laminate in a tri-radial design. As it will often be permanently set even when not in use, both leech and foot of the sail have a strong Sunbrella UV protection strip.
Downwind Sails for Lagoon Catamarans
While flat-out racing multihulls never sail straight downwind due to their truly impressive boat-speeds that always move the apparent wind forward and so instead gybe downwind on much tighter reaching angles, a modern cruising catamaran provides a very safe and stable platform for sailing downwind with either a traditional symmetric spinnaker, or an asymmetric.
The symmetric spinnaker is still the most effective of all modern downwind sails. As a catamaran provides a wide and very stable deck from which to set and retrieve the spinnaker, much of the dread of using this sail so feared by many monohull sailors is actually eliminated. This also due to the fact that multihulls are so wide that a spinnaker boom, the handling of which can be difficult especially on the narrow deck of a monohull, is not necessary here. With one sheet on either of the hulls, the symmetric spinnaker will set perfectly even without a boom.
To make setting and retrieving the spinnaker easier, it can also be ordered with a spinnaker sock.
Our spinnakers are available either custom-made to your very own design or ready-made in many sizes to fit nearly all boats.
A good alternative to the symmetrical spinnaker is the more modern asymmetrical spinnaker, which can also be used straight downwind on a multihull. By attaching the tack of the sail to the “windward” bow of the catamaran, the effectively projected downwind sail area is increased and the sail is moved out of the wind-shadow of the mainsail. However, the asymmetric spinnaker can also be used for tighter reaching angles.
The asymmetrical also has the advantage that it can be set on a furling gear, making handling on a multihull even easier. At Rolly Tasker Sails, we offer ready-made furling asymmetrical spinnakers for nearly any size of boat, as well as of course custom-made asymmetrical spinnakers to your own specifications.
