Lagoon 55

“Our experience tells us that people ignore a design that ignores people. That’s why we wanted to draw a beautiful boat that would be immediately identifiable as being a Lagoon,” says designer Patrick le Quément. And indeed, the new Lagoon 55 is a boat with an unmistakable profile. A hardtop shields the flybridge and its helm station from the weather, making for a tall, triple-stacked silhouette. NautaDesign, which was responsible for the interior, was also tasked with bringing the same sense of light and space found aboard Lagoon’s other even larger cats belowdecks. To that end, extra-large windows and skylights were added to bring the outdoors in. Construction is in polyester with anti-osmotic resin to ward off blistering. The hulls, deck and coachroof are all infused, with a balsa core in the deck and solid laminate below the waterline. Spars are aluminum, a self-tacking jib comes standard, and a fully-battened square-top mainsail is available as an option for those in search of additional power.

LOA 54ft 4in BEAM 29ft 6in DRAFT 5ft 2in DISPLACEMENT 58,00lb (lightship) SAIL AREA 1,948ft² (std. main); 2,001ft² (square-top main), Lagoon, cata-lagoon.com

HH44 Open

The HH44 Open was designed in collaboration with the Disabled Sailors Association (DSA) of the UK. From getting on, off and around the boat to having space to turn a chair around on board, accessibility has been at the forefront of the design. The expansive saloon is 334ft² and has the standard HH finishing and style. A weather-protected internal helm station makes full control of the helm and sails possible from a wheelchair. Large windows and a sunroof allow the breeze to wash through the boat and give it an open, airy feeling. The galley is aft-facing. With a 62ft carbon mast and square-topped mainsail, this is very much a performance-oriented boat that will undoubtedly make the best of a wide range of conditions. Curved C-shaped daggerboards provide lift sailing hard on the wind. A second version of the HH44 Open is also on the way for sailors without mobility limitations.

LOA 44ft 3in BEAM 24ft 7in (7.5m) DRAFT 4ft 4in (board up); 9ft 10in (board down) DISPLACEMENT 19,840lb (light ship) SAIL AREA NA, HH Catamarans, hhcatamarans.com

Balance 580

It seems there’s always something in the works at Balance Catamarans, with the latest example being this impressive-looking 58-footer. The latest in a long line of well-crafted performance cruisers, the boat has all the trademarks of a Balance cat with its sleek lines, powerful rig and high-aspect daggerboards. Hull #1 will be constructed entirely in epoxy, carbon and Corecell M foam, but the boat is also available in E-glass with some carbon reinforcements in high-load areas. Hulls and deck are vacuum-bagged, and the mast, boom, forward crossbeam and spreaders are carbon with Kevlar standing rigging. (Aluminum spars are also an option.) Stacking doors separate the saloon and aft cockpit and allow the two to be combined into a single, large free-flowing space. The boat’s trademark VersaHelm allows you to steer from beneath the shelter of the hardtop in dirty weather, or from up high when the sun shines. It’ll be fun to see this boat when it launches.

LOA 58ft BEAM 27ft 10in DRAFT 4ft 6in (boards up); 10ft 11in (boards down) DISPLACEMENT 31,785lb (light ship) SAIL AREA 2,191ft², Balance Catamarans, balancecatamarans.com

Xquisite X5 Plus and Sixty Solar

Following up on its SAIL magazine “Best Boats” winning X5, South Africa-based has been busy of late working on no less than three new projects. The first of these, the X5 Plus represents an evolution of the already outstanding X5. Chief among the changes relative to its predecessor are lighter displacement and a more powerful rig in the interest of speed. Other upgrades, based on feedback from existing customers, include everything from a state-of-the-art electrical system to more handholds—all with an eye toward the best sailing experience possible. Also in the works are a pair of 60ft Bill Dixon-designed “Sixty Solar” models, which will be available in both power and sail variants. The latter, in particular, is being expressly designed for singlehanded sailing with all electric sail controls and the option of an eco-friendly parallel hybrid propulsion system.

X5 Plus: LOA 53ft BEAM 26ft 2in Draft 4ft 5in Displacement 35,274lb (light ship) SAIL AREA 1,550ft², Xquisite Yachts, xquisiteyachts.com

Dragonfly 40

A truly impressive effort on the part of Denmarks’ Quorning Boats, the company’s recently launched Dragonfly 40 offers an outstanding combination of speed and comfort afloat. Available in either a “Touring” version with a self-tacking jib, or a turbocharged “Ultimate” version, with an overlapping headsail, the boat features a carbon mast, a batten-car system for the main, the option of a fixed sprit and twin helms aft. The amas include a pair of deck hatches providing easy access to a wealth of storage space, and the accommodation space belowdecks in the main hull (long a Quorning specialty) looks to be both well-thought-out and comfortable, with an L-shaped galley to port and a private double cabin aft. Finally, there’s Quorning’s proprietary “Dragonfly Swing Wing” system, which allows you to deploy and retract the amas in a matter of seconds.

LOA 40ft 7in BEAM 13ft 1in (amas folded); 27ft 6in (amas extended) DRAFT 1ft 4in (board up); 6ft 3in (board down) DISPLACEMENT 12,125lb SAIL AREA 968ft² (Touring), Quorning Boats APS, dragonfly.dk

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Day one of the Delta Pro highlighted the level of competition and the challenges that the kiters will have to overcome to claim the crown. Eight, high-speed races saw battles from start to finish. The front of the fleet was strongly contested with top-five finishes by seven of the eighteen racers, and an especially tight battle amongst the top six.

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Three days into its historic voyage attempting to become the largest autonomous vessel to cross the Atlantic, project organizers are reporting that the Mayflower has experienced a “small mechanical issue,” and that they are stopping the voyage. A recovery team reached the autonomous vessel on June 21.

“We decided not to force the ship to continue as what’s broken is easy to fix at the moment. Our team is on their way to get the ship, and the Mayflower is waiting,” the team put out as a mission status update. Initial updates on June 18 only said that there was a small malfunction, but the vessel would be taken back to base to investigate and that they hoped to restart the voyage shortly. Read on.

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A total WTF concept. Not sailing, but check it out.

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Response teams are working to remove massive quantities of marine mucilage – otherwise known as “sea snot” – from the surface of Turkey’s Sea of Marmara, the enclosed body of water between the Aegean and the Bosporus.

Within the first two days of the cleanup, about 1,000 responders had collected 14,000 cubic feet of the substance at multiple sites, according to Environment and Urban Planning Minister Murat Kurum…

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The IBM-sponsored autonomous vessel prototype Mayflower has departed the UK, bound on a transatlantic voyage to Plymouth, Massachusetts.

The AI-enabled, electric-powered vessel was developed by IBM with the non-profit ocean research organization ProMare and a partnership of scientific organizations. It was formally launched in Plymouth, England in September, and after conducting final outfitting and sea trials – and waiting out COVID-related delays and some bad weather – it is now underway.

The Mayflower measures 15 meters in length and weighs five tons, and it has a top speed of 20 knots. It is equipped with a range of scientific instruments to take measurements during its long journey, covering everything from water chemistry to microplastic pollution to whale song. Read on.

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One of the many specialty monohulls in the recent Bol d’Or Mirabaud. More here.

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The Sailing Museum will open in Newport, RI, in 2022. (Courtesy The Sailing Museum/)

The Sailing Museum (TSM) announced on June 9 a unique opportunity for the sailing community to create a film exhibit to be featured in the museum. Scheduled to open in May of 2022, TSM will offer an innovative multi-media experience dedicated to celebrating sailing’s heritage, showcasing its heroes and inspiring new generations of sailors and innovators.

TSM will feature themed areas, beginning with Wind & Water where visitors will be introduced to some of the basic principles of sailing. One of the exhibits in this area will be focused on the importance of caring for the places we sail…

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When the pandemic hit last year, the Lightning fleet at the Buffalo Canoe Club  was displaced from their home, because the club isn’t in Buffalo, it’s located in Point Abino, Ontario.  The border closed so the American members couldn’t go sail in the magical waters of Abino Bay.

A solution was found when Sandy Beach YC, which is located one mile south of Niagara Falls on the Niagara River, opened their doors to the displaced Lightning sailors and offered their club and Race Committee to the fleet. The US-Canadian border remains closed and so the scenario is being repeated this summer.

While the fleet of 11 boats is smaller by more than half than most summers at the BCC, because some boats and sailors are stuck in Canada, it remains ultra competitive.  There are several World and North American and champs like David Starck and his wife, Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Jody Starck, excellent just post-college sailors like Connor Godfrey and Katherine Moloney, along with multiple rising young sailors who get the benefit of sailing against world-class competition. Even the outstanding RC is staffed by Chair Fritz Dusel, who was a crew on a Lightning North American Championship boat, and markset Paul Grenauer who won a J22 Worlds as crew. Talent abounds everywhere on the course…

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As I sit up here on lofty perch and watch the America’s Cup and sailing evolve, I wonder about a lot of what has gone in the name of technology, but which is really just about a paycheck.  Nothing wrong with getting paid for doing things around the AC, we paid designers and builders (though not much, because they were mostly slaves, but whatevs) and sailors who took time off from their day job as fishermen. We wanted to crush the foreigners, and we did, until that hack DC didn’t cover downwind.

The boats have gotten wild since my time, though we always just wanted the fastest boat, so this foiling stuff makes sense.  The Deed of Gift has served the event well, and made a couple of lawyers a lot of money in the process.

What we never contemplated was mandating a certain type of support boat.  The latest announcement about hydrogen-powered foil assisted support boats is interesting in some respects.  However, talking about being carbon neutral and green technology this and that….oh please, just stop. Please provide a calculation about the carbon belched into the air through the creation of all these boats and get back to us when you can demonstrate true carbon neutrality.  You know, sustainable…

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Sticking with its proven design formula, but also cherry-picking popular features from its recent models, Leopard Catamarans has launched a “best of” package with this new boat that sold nearly 30 units before hull #1 even touched water. Like a greatest hits album, the Leopard 42 combines the best of its 40ft and 50ft sailing siblings, even grabbing some of the interior styling from the Leopard 53 powercat. The result has been rolling off the production line in unprecedented numbers.

Design & Construction

Naval architects Simonis Voogd and South African builder Robertson and Caine created a boat that cruising couples as well as full charter groups will love. The construction consists of a foam-cored vacuum infusion topped by a one-piece cabinhouse—a departure from the three-section tops on the boat’s predecessors. The sailplan is a fairly simple one, with an aluminum mast and 1,256ft² of canvas (including the square-top main). German, or bridle-style, sheeting controls the large, fully-battened Ullman main…

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A summary infographic showing hurricane season probability and numbers of named storms predicted from NOAA’s 2021 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook.; NOAA’s GOES-East satellite captured this image of Hurricane Laura on August 26, 2020. (NOAA/)

NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center is predicting another above-normal Atlantic hurricane season. Forecasters predict a 60% chance of an above-normal season, a 30% chance of a near-normal season, and a 10% chance of a below-normal season. However, experts do not anticipate the historic level of storm activity seen in 2020…

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France’s Lagoon has been busy of late, recently launching its brand-new Lagoon 55, now doing a publicity tour of the Med. Replete with living space, the boat presents an unmistakable profile, sporting a hardtop that shields the flybridge and helm station from the weather and makes for a tall, triple-stacked silhouette. NautaDesign, which was responsible for the Lagoon 55’s interior, also made a point of creating as a feeling of space belowdecks as possible. To that end, extra-large windows and skylights were added to bring the outdoors in…

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