Lagoon 400 Summerland 40
Privilege brand has undergone great change; with the build of the larger multihulls
Galathea, Salina and Cumberland are
concentrating on the new factory at Lorient and with a clear design style to follow
all part of the Flagship class giving a
the range of new boats looks exciting and successful. Investment in the company
higher specification than the remaining
continues with a 955 on the drawing board. The investment is delivering a return;
boats. It shows in the Galathea
I did not realise that they had now built twenty 615s and seven 745s, whilst this is
which offers a high standard of finish,
not significant when compared to say Lagoon, the product is luxurious, reasonably
luxurious finishing, lots of detailed and
bespoke and highly sophisticated. Of the older designs he 495 and 445 remain
expensive wood work and crisp interior
popular and within the 2009/10 range and the future looks certain for Privilege.
design. In this respect it is superior to
the Lagoon 620. It has attracted a
Lined up like rivals at a football match Lagoon and Fountaine Pajot displayed all
good level of orders.
of their respective ranges with the exception of their flagships; the Lagoon 620
and Fountaine Pajot’s Galathea 65. As new boats are added to each range so
However I was disappointed in the
the differences between them are becoming quite marked. Lagoon introduced
Summerland 40, their latest trawler
the new 400 and the much improved 421, a development of the 420. The 500
catamaran, it is surprising that the
has also had a small improvement to the owners bathroom. The Lagoon brand is
company that can produce the
developing strongly driven by continual investment in new boats - half the range
Cumberland 46 – in my opinion the
is new this year. It means that Lagoon can respond very quickly to changes in the
best production powercat around,
market, the customers and technology. The 400 looks good. It was well received
can produce this. The saloon seems
at Southampton and orders were being signed up at La Rochelle. The 421 is much
small and cramped, the aft cabins
better than the 420 from which it was developed; ; improved sailing performance
are dominated by bumps and
through changes to the hull shape and more sail area means that it is better able
awkward shapes from the cockpit
to carry the accommodation that attracts owners to it. The 620 has been very well
and deck above and the toilet/shower
received with orders signed in Southampton and at La Rochelle. . Lagoon suffered
compartments are too small. I am not
a sales drop of 20% due to the credit crunch following several very good years
sure it will be the success they hoped
whilst the Beneateau group as a whole suffered a 45% drop. Lagoon are seeing
for.
growth coming from European customers starting to buy again, Scandanavian
and Far Eastern customers. The Lagoon brand is developing well and they are
Fountaine Pajot have burned through
seeing production levels increase again; they expect to complete a 400 every two
a lot of their cash reserves developing
days, have now built 112 of the 500 and have sold out production of the 620 for
new boats and are having to work hard
the next twelve months - a situation that they will address!.
to win the orders they need to keep
their extensive production facilities full.
Meanwhile Fountaine Pajot have struck a different style. The New Wave
Rumours on the pontoon were that
catamarans are focussed on performance, comfort and style. The newer boats are
FP’s sales were 35% down over the
reasonably sleek in style, are easy to move around, have wrap around cockpits
last year. However they seem confident
and plenty of interior hull volume enabling spacious aft cabins with good toilet/
of rebuilding their order book over the
shower compartments. The Lipari looks good. Much larger than the Lavezzi which
next few months. There is some heavy
it has replaced, more beam, larger saloon and wider hulls give it a bigger boat feel.
discounting going on to ensure this.
The owners’ hull is very good and the Lipari has been well received. The Galathea
65 was launched at Cannes and looks superb. The larger boats in the range;
Meanwhile Nautitech have
been quietly working away in »
  OCTOBER 2009 : MULTIHULL REVIEW  29
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