Owner-Delivery Lagoon 40

[Ndavies]

We have just placed an order for a new Lagoon 40, scheduled for delivery in September/October 2018. We are experienced monohull sailors and plan to deliver her ourselves from France to the BVI. We already have a great experienced crew lined up for the trip. We believe this will be a great trip in itself and among other things will satisfy a long-time bucket list item of crossing the Atlantic. If the timing works, we are considering joining one of the ARC groups, but are still researching this.

I would like to make contact with other Cat owners that have taken delivery, performed seatrials/shakedown, then done an Atlantic crossing. It would be very useful to learn of your experience and pick your brains on some of the preparation, logistics etc.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Neil

[Jeannius]

I did this back in 2002. Boat launched October 15th, started ARC November 24th. It wasn't planned to be that tight a schedule but my boat, a Privilege 435, wasn't finished before the French summer shutdown so it ended up being a less than ideal schedule. Fortunately, being a Privilege, the boat was very close to perfect when delivered with the only issue being a fuel gauge that still said full at the end of the delivery cruise from Les Sables d'Olonne to Gran Canaria.


You may have two major issues...


1) Warranty. Manufacturers and dealers lose interest in you pretty much as soon as you leave the dock. Actually, dealers, lose interest as soon as the final check has cleared.


2) You won't get on ARC 2018 or ARC+ St Vincent as they've been full for ages and have waiting lists as long as your arm.


I'll post more after looking back to see what other issues I came up with.

[Falbala60]

Originally Posted by Jeannius

I did this back in 2002. Boat launched October 15th, started ARC November 24th. It wasn't planned to be that tight a schedule but my boat, a Privilege 435, wasn't finished before the French summer shutdown so it ended up being a less than ideal schedule. Fortunately, being a Privilege, the boat was very close to perfect when delivered with the only issue being a fuel gauge that still said full at the end of the delivery cruise from Les Sables d'Olonne to Gran Canaria.


You may have two major issues...


1) Warranty. Manufacturers and dealers lose interest in you pretty much as soon as you leave the dock. Actually, dealers, lose interest as soon as the final check has cleared.


2) You won't get on ARC 2018 or ARC+ St Vincent as they've been full for ages and have waiting lists as long as your arm.


I'll post more after looking back to see what other issues I came up with.

Question : is something stops a sailboat in Tenerife to cross Atlantic at the same time ARC does ? and even somedays before and expect to be «*in the crowd*» during most of the sailing ?

[Jeannius]

Hundreds of boats cross the Atlantic around the time of the ARC but without joining the event. The ARC actually leaves before the best time for the crossing because it wants to make sure the slowest boats have arrived before Christmas. If you leave a few weeks later you will probably get better trade winds.


If you want the feeling of having other boats near you, leave Tenerife a day or two before the ARC and listen in on VHF, you'll hear other boats and you'll be able to ask them about which channels they use and which frequencies on long range radio.


Even if you leave at the same time as the ARC, you probably won't actually see other boats for days at a time. We didn't see anyone from day 2 until day 14 of our 17 day crossing.

[boatman61]

One suggestion I have is run under engine to Lisbon/Cascais so as to get the engine hours in for the first service by engineers in Lisbon..
If its a Lagoon..
I have done this on a couple of occasions on owner assists where the owners were continueing across with the ARC after I left the boat in Gran Canaria.
The first service for the Yanmars is after 50hrs of the running in proceedure.. best get it done via the Lagoon agent in Lisbon.
We ran them individually switching every 4hrs to keep the hours balanced and for fuel economy.

[Ndavies]

Thanks everyone for the responses and input. I made contact with World Cruising and there are still spots available on the ARC. However, my concern is that if the boat is delayed in production (and I hear that is often the case), I don't want to get put "on a schedule" - been there done that sailing and it rarely leads to good things! World Cruising will not give a refund if you withdraw late in the game. So going independent of the ARC and perhaps a little later has some appeal.

Also, good suggestion on the engine service - thanks! Is there anything special about the 50 hr service?

Does anyone have experience shipping items to France for the boat? For example, I already have liferaft and other bulky items that it would be great to be able to ship ahead of time?


Neil

[LeeV]

Originally Posted by Ndavies

Thanks everyone for the responses and input. I made contact with World Cruising and there are still spots available on the ARC. However, my concern is that if the boat is delayed in production (and I hear that is often the case), I don't want to get put "on a schedule" - been there done that sailing and it rarely leads to good things! World Cruising will not give a refund if you withdraw late in the game. So going independent of the ARC and perhaps a little later has some appeal.

Also, good suggestion on the engine service - thanks! Is there anything special about the 50 hr service?

Does anyone have experience shipping items to France for the boat? For example, I already have liferaft and other bulky items that it would be great to be able to ship ahead of time?


Neil

Have you asked your dealer? There are also several youtube videos about folks shipping stuff to LaRochelle and other places for the same purpose. Your dealer should be happy to help align it all for you.

Good luck.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Ndavies

.......

Also, good suggestion on the engine service - thanks! Is there anything special about the 50 hr service?

.......

Neil

The first service of a new engine is important on several accounts. It can pick up any unexpected warranty issues. The head will be re-torgued and the valves will have seated thus requiring adjustment. All major nuts/bolts should be checked for tightness. Engine mounts will have settled and alignment must be checked. Initial bearing wear is greatest in the first few hours so oil and filter needs changing. In fact some suggest an oil change after the first 10 minutes and again after a few hours!!!

In general, it is the first opportunity to ensure the engine was properly assembled at by the manufacturer.

[Octopus]

Originally Posted by Ndavies

We have just placed an order for a new Lagoon 40, scheduled for delivery in September/October 2018. We are experienced monohull sailors and plan to deliver her ourselves from France to the BVI. We already have a great experienced crew lined up for the trip. We believe this will be a great trip in itself and among other things will satisfy a long-time bucket list item of crossing the Atlantic. If the timing works, we are considering joining one of the ARC groups, but are still researching this.

I would like to make contact with other Cat owners that have taken delivery, performed seatrials/shakedown, then done an Atlantic crossing. It would be very useful to learn of your experience and pick your brains on some of the preparation, logistics etc.

Thanks in advance for your help!
Neil

Hi Neil

On 7 September 2007 (six weeks late), we took delivery of Octopus, our Lagoon 420 Hybrid, in Southampton, UK, two weeks after she had been launched in Les Sables-dʼOlonne‎. My wife and I had not so much as set foot on a boat for ten years prior to that and only two of our six children had ever set foot on a boat. Three weeks later we had completed provisioning and fitting all our non-factory options (electronic navigation equipment, life-raft, water-maker, washing machine, Rib etc.) and set sail on an Atlantic circuit.

We chose to have Octopus professionally delivered to the UK, owing to fears, like you describe, regarding delivery of equipment in an unfamiliar place with a language problem. This was probably the right decision for us, even though it delayed our departure by about two weeks, when we were perilously short of time, and led to us crossing Biscay in October. In essence, the delivery trip from Les Sables-dʼOlonne to the Solent, was the shakedown sail.

From then on, we were on a rigorous timetable to catch up with our plan to leave the Canary Islands at about the same time as the ARC.

Lagoon are normally good at keeping to their delivery timetable, but in our case troubles with their new hybrid propulsion system had led to the six week delay.

As with any production boat, you should expect some snags, as they are assembled by factory workers that don't really care. In our case, all the issues on our snagging list were trivial; some were sorted out in Southampton, others were sorted out on arrival in Martinique.

Owing to our late departure, we set out on our Atlantic crossing two weeks after the ARC and I'd actually recommend that, as the ARC had harsh weather whereas we had benign weather. We took the longer and easier Southerly route, sailing South until we were level with the Cape Verde Islands before striking out West for Barbados. We encountered no bad weather or squalls and had a relaxed and pleasant three-week crossing.

The boat performed faultlessly and, now, I'd have no hesitation taking her anywhere in the world, apart from, perhaps, the Roaring Forties. Before we set out, my wife and I each had about 600nm of sub-30ft monohull sailing experience from our youth, but had never sailed a cat. We learned as we went and found the boat easy and forgiving to sail.

Once we found the trade winds, we sailed, wing on wing, directly down wind and it was quite the easiest and most comfortable sailing I have ever done.

I'm sure that you will have a great trip.

Chris
Octopus, Lagoon 420 Hybrid
Isle of Arran, Scotland

[Ndavies]

Chris and everyone:
Thank you for your very thoughtful replies.
Chris - I would love to hear more about your experiences on Octopus, and the routes you have taken. The idea of heading to England first is a good thought as both my wife and I are originally from England (NW Coast), but now live near Pensacola, FL USA. England would be a whole lot more "familiar" than France in terms of getting the boat ready. I am also looking into some of the shipping options for supplies as I already have some of the "extras" and safety equipment from my current boat that we can use on this trip.


I have also been reading some similar thoughts about the Atlantic crossing, i.e., later than the ARC is better, and the southern route has the less harsh weather. Your post seems to confirm this. To me flexibility and no hard schedule limits has a great appeal. We have been down the track of being "schedule-driven" several times and that always leads to stress or bad decisions (or both!). Even on our recent trip to the Bahamas, we thought we had plenty of time to meet friends flying into Georgetown to join us - in reality, we were tying up at the dock as their taxi arrived.


Thanks again
Neil

[Octopus]

Hi Neil

Your main problem, like ours was, will be getting across Biscay; crossing Biscay in October is not for the faint-hearted. Once you have rounded Finesterre, all your troubles will be behind you. We've twice crossed Biscay in October and been very lucky with the weather both times. I wouldn't want to be unlucky!

I'm not sure that I'd recommend the UK route option for you, simply because it extends the time before you can cross Biscay. You certainly want to be across Biscay before November, not least because the weather is so cold, wet and miserable by then.

If I were you I'd be inclined to leave the fitting out and provisioning until you are beyond Finesterre. Wait in Les Sables-dʼOlonne‎ until you have a perfect weather window and then head straight for A Coruña. Then wait in A Coruña for a perfect day for rounding Finesterre. Basically, you will want to get South to the good weather as quickly as possible.

No doubt you would prefer to have all your safety equipment aboard for the Biscay crossing, but really, apart from an EPIRB and a factory-fitted auto-pilot, what do you really need on a 40ft catamaran in those waters?

I really like Portugal - almost all the Portuguese speak English and they are very friendly and welcoming. So, if I were you, I would be inclined to do your fitting out and provisioning in one of the ports on the West coast of Portugal, where you will have nice weather and good facilities. Shipping goods to any of the marinas on this coast will not be a problem. I particularly like Figueira Da Foz, partly because the marina is cheap, but also because the people are so friendly. I also recommend Cascais, which is a bit more up-market, but it's pleasant and it is handy for Lisbon. I've overnighted at a few other Portuguese marinas, but don't know them well enough to make any recommendations.

From there you have a choice of heading more directly for the Canary Islands via Madeira, or swinging left, like we did, and taking in the Algarve and Gibraltar, before heading South to the Canary Islands.

Morrocco is very interesting. We spent a memorable week in Essaouira before heading for Lanzarote. Essaouira was the cultural highlight of our voyage.

We made our Caribbean landfall in Barbados, which was a great choice. We then sailed South to Tobago and then North to Grenada, both wonderful islands, then just island hopped Northwards, avoiding St Vincent and St Lucia, because of the high levels of crime that were reported on those islands at the time. We spent a couple of weeks in Martinique, during which Lagoon arranged for all the minor factory snags to be fixed. We particularly loved Bequia, Isles Des Saintes and Antigua, but all the islands are lovely.

For us, the hardest part was that we were on a tight timetable to cross the Atlantic back to the UK in the optimum weather window and for me to return to work. You will hopefully have more time to enjoy yourself at these places and savour them a little more.

Fair Winds

Chris

[Zzmeyer]

Wow! Just placed an order and will get delivery in three or four months? I ordered a Saona 47 a couple months ago for delivery November 2019. Congratulations! The cost of shipping used to be a lot more expensive than having it sailed across. Lagoon and Fountaine Pajot and I think Jeanneau have teamed up and I have been told are shipping every two weeks at a price not ridiculously more than a delivery crew. Of course, you will have neither.