With its excellent crew-to-skipper communication from the Sports Top, the Bluewater sailboat Lagoon 450 S is very outstanding.
The 45-foot Lagoon 450S caters to boaters who prefer a more traditional form of the catamaran with a helm post on the bulkhead in place of the flybridge.
Offering seamless elegance, the lower rig improves access to the boom and reduces pitch while maintaining the mainsail area.
Nowadays, there is a lot of demand for cruising catamarans, which is excellent news for purchasers as manufacturers compete for your hard-earned money. A number of manufacturers, including Nautitech, Outremer, Fountain Pajot, and others, have excellent new options in the mid-40 foot range of sailing cats, a market that is quite competitive. With the February release of the Lagoon 450 Sport, Lagoon has achieved what it knew it had to in order to keep its top spot. Under the expert guidance of former Beneteau representative John Cowpe, the first one was imported by The Multihull Group (TMG), a freshly established Australian dealer. The launch of the Lagoon 450 Sport has changed the direction that TMG, a member of the Windcraft Group, is taking since they previously lacked a brand in this expanding cruising market.
Lagoon, a well-known French manufacturer of cruising cats, debuted its 450 model with one of those flybridges around six years ago, and it was an immediate success. It has constructed more than 600 of these so far. And not everybody adored it. Thus, instead of scrapping the design and starting over, it chose to modify its 45-footer with a new helm station that figuratively split the difference between the cockpit and flybridge when it started making plans for model year 2017. The outcome is the 450 S, which served as the foundation for SporTop. (Lagoon continues to produce the original flybridge model, now called as the Lagoon 450 F.)
Although Lagoon wasn’t the first firm to use the midlevel wheel (the one on the 450 S is located to starboard), it did a great job of perfecting the idea. The wide helmsman’s seat is four steps up from the cockpit and at arm’s length from all the controls for the ship. The controls for the Quick windlass and the twin Yanmar diesels are conveniently located, as well as the B&G instruments (wind and speed info, chart plotter, auto pilot).
A trio of Harken electric winches, a collection of Spinlock clutches, and the overlapping genoa’s sheets and traveler are all used to organize the running rigging. The SporTop, a sturdy bimini with tinted plexiglass that offers clear sight lines for the sails, completes the package.
A modification on the well-proven 450 hull, the Lagoon 450 Sport sports a flybridge and a deck arrangement quite similar to the Lagoon 39. The single helm station is incorporated onto both of these designs’ elevated starboard cockpit sides, hence the Sport-top moniker. This design improves stability for these tall cats by having the boom 70 cm lower than the flybridge variant while keeping the same sail area. The stairs onto the hardtop bimini for simple access to the rig are an improvement over the Lagoon 39. Moreover, there is an outboard guardrail arm for the helm that was not actually installed on our testing boat, hull number 10. All sail controls are conveniently located in the binnacle configuration, together with a dashboard for the B&G plotter and autopilot screen. Lay lines and other course directions are offered in a user-friendly packaging by the B&G sailing programme. The Simrad Joystick control in the saloon chart table is very useful. The huge throttle levers, Yanmar engine controls, and plastic screen tracks make up a practical dashboard that is well-sheltered beneath the hard top dodger and perfect for offshore use.
The higher helm to starboard breaks the coachroof’s continuous composite cover over the entire cockpit in the new model.
The Bluewater Lagoon 450 S has two cockpits, one forward and one aft, which is increasingly standard on big cats. The aft cockpit will be exposed to the afternoon sun while swinging to the hook in eastern trade breezes, making it a poor location for happy hour. At that point, you move forward to the U-shaped couch built into the foredeck. There isn’t a table in this area, but there are a few cup holders and space on the deck to the sides of the above-deck rapid windlass
Eight people can gather on the portside U-shaped couch, which wraps around the dining table, in the aft cockpit for supper later, as the sun begins to sink below the horizon.
On a double lounge-cum-sofa to starboard, there is additional seating. It’s not required to have an outdoor fridge.
Wide hard deck on the Lagoon 450 S spans the transom right before the davits, making it possible to move quickly from one side to the other without ever entering the cockpit and obstructing traffic. The short swim platforms offer limited place for you to acquire a foothold while boarding from a side dock, this is because the external edges of the hulls swoop down almost to the very end of the final transom step. In a marina, those few extra inches will undoubtedly shorten your total length and reduce your need for a slip. Docking stern-to also makes it simpler to board the vessel.
It is becoming more difficult to discuss interiors and exteriors separately on modern catamarans. The one leads to the other. In fact, the saloon is nearly a pass-through between the two cockpits with the aft window and forward door open (albeit a very nice one!). Nauta Designs’ light matte teak cabinetry and oak floor were designed to create a comfortable contemporary ambience.
To starboard is an L-shaped sofa with a table that faces aft for optimal viewing of a TV that rises from a cupboard by the door.
A three-burner Eno stove, a separate oven, and lots of Corian work space are included in the U-shaped galley. (Microwaves and dishwashers are optional.) In order to provide extra space to open the front-loading refrigerator, the front end of the galley is not parallel to the aft end but rather tilted slightly forward. It’s a practical design that just minimally restricts access to the port hull and the nav station in the corner looking forward. In order to construct an interior steering station, the latter can be fitted with an MFD and joystick. The numerous lockers, nooks, and space under the berth provide good storage.
Essential and Comfort are the two choice packages that Lagoon offers. Options can, of course, also be chosen individually. For instance, the davits are in the Essential pack, whereas the Comfort pack includes an Onan genset. Whichever choice you choose, you can be confident that this yacht takes care of its crew.
The ship barely moves at 5.8 kt while being buffeted by gusts of 8.5 kt. The genoa’s telltales are horizontal from the three-person helm seat, and pulling the hardtop back reveals the battened mainsail. Gybing can be accomplished by pulling the boom along the track to centre it, then pivoting to sail out to sea. The boat tacks over once it is clear of the sandbanks without lowering the mainsail. The mainsail is hidden on a port tack, but it’s not difficult to escape to the deck. The optional Harken 60 electric winches, of which there is just one electric H60 as standard for the halyards, make it easy to harden up by pointing the boat at a 45-degree angle.
The high bridgedeck clearance minimises wave resistance even when the severe chop bangs between the hulls to reduce the speed of the Lagoon 450 S to 7.2kt. Once out of the choppy area, the boat accelerates beautifully, with the cable steering feeling light and responsive to the touch. The apparent is pushed up to 19kt as the breeze increases to 13kt, and the boat climbs high to 30 degrees, attaining a remarkable boat speed of 11.2kt, which is astounding for a family catamaran with little keels. As the boat is powered up again in the Broadwater, the upgraded 57hp Yanmars accelerate it to almost 10 kt before slowing it back down to 6 mph. If you become aware of how little bite the folding Yanmar propellers have when moving rearward, docking in light breezes is not particularly dramatic. Generally, the 450S behaves well when being handled because of the outboard-mounted propellers that can spin the 45-foot-long hull in its length. Power boaters should take this into account when playing rag and stick.
The full-batten mainsail by Incidence Sails is standard equipment on the 450S, which has an upwind sail area of 1,399 feet. Another 22 feet can be added by choosing a square-top or fathead main. Even though it might not seem like much, adding canvas to a 73-foot Z-Spar mast’s top makes a difference. In order to perhaps lessen pitching, the mast is slightly about 3 feet shorter than on the flybridge variant.
At the helm, where visibility is also pretty good, the control lines of the 450S are run aft to three Harken winches and a variety of Spinlock rope clutches.
The twin updated 57hp Yanmar diesels, which have saildrives and collapsible propellers (45hp is normal), provide 9 knots of speed at 3,200 rpm (wide-open-throttle). At 2,400 rpm and a speed of 7.8 knots, a more efficient but still decent cruising speed can be found. The Lagoon is a catamaran, therefore manoeuvring it at idle speed in confined spaces is typically simple because the engines are spaced far apart (nearly 25 feet in this example) and will spin the boat in its own length. The 450S facilitates docking into any circumstance stress-free and enjoyable because to its agility when under power.
You can determine for yourself whether usefulness over aesthetics is important because beauty is subjective. Whatever perspective you take, this Lagoon 450S catamaran is really useful.
Lagoons are developed from the inside out to prioritize living space, according to designers Van Peteghem-Lauriot Prévost, but this comes at the expense of creating a box-shaped facade, as detractors frequently point out.
Balsa core is utilised for the construction above the water, while solid GRP is used for the construction below. The Lagoon 450 Sport’s alloy rig is strong, including a roller-furling genoa and huge outboard chain plates on the angled wire shrouds.
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