Lagoon Catamaran 421: The boat for our circumnavigation

Joline is a Lagoon catamaran 421 built in 2012, which we rented in the summer 2021 from its previous owner. After a long search, we were fortunate enough to finally find a boat that was loved by its owner and treated accordingly well. As we discovered during our search, this is unfortunately not a given.

Our Lagoon Catamaran is a four cabin version, which is equipped with teak on the steps, in the stern and in the bathrooms, which makes the boat very livable.

The technical equipment included a good chartplotter, radar, AIS, and radio, as well as electric winches, air conditioning for the saloon and both bow cabins, and a new battery bank. Many positive aspects left little to be desired.

What was missing and is essential for our circumnavigation of the world is a watermaker, solar panels, more battery capacity and a sufficiently large inverter to be independent of land and marinas.

The corresponding upgrades should be available at the beginning 2022 in Turkey.

Why a Lagoon Catamaran 421?

Originally, we were initially looking for a classic monohull in the 45- to 50-foot range. An Amel Super Maramu or a Hallbery-Rassy with a center cockpit were strong candidates. Eventually, we received an invitation to the boat show in Düsseldorf—it must have been around 2014—to look at a new deck saloon yacht. The boat was truly beautiful, with generous space, light, and a connection to the outside world. We were truly taken with such a modern deck saloon yacht. Unfortunately, it's not as "shippy" as the classics, but it's modern and bright.

That year, cruising catamarans were also exhibited at the boat show for the first time. After viewing the catamaran, it was immediately clear to us that this was a serious topic that we needed to address.

Since catamarans were in short supply at boat shows at the time, we visited the Multiull show in La Grande Motte the following year. There, all the well-known brands were on display live and in color. After two days at the show, we had clear favorites: the Fountaine Pajot Helia 44 and the Lagoon Catamaran 421.

Both boats met our criteria: plenty of space, a modern feel with large, vertical windows, and the ability to handle them easily with a two-person crew. Lagoon catamarans are criticized for not being the fastest boats, but they are very robustly built and offer a truly space-saving solution. While the Lagoon catamarans are certainly not the fastest, their sailing characteristics are very decent. We always calculate an average of 5 knots on the water, but we usually manage more. If the wind and sails are right, 7 to 8 knots are possible.

Now it was time to learn more about catamarans and their seaworthiness for bluewater cruising. But at this point, setting off on a monohull was no longer an option for us.

In the following years, we went on several summer sailing trips on catamarans to explore the advantages and disadvantages of the different boats and to figure out what was truly important to us and what we could do without. We also continued to regularly visit the boat show, where more and more catamarans were exhibited each year.

Ultimately, however, we stuck with our original favorites: the 42-foot Lagoon catamaran, represented by the 420, 421, and 42 models, and the Helia 44, which we had fallen in love with in La Grande Motte.

With this list in mind, we began an intensive search for our boat in 2020.

However, it would take more than a year until we could 2021 found our 421.

Tilila became Joline. In the following photos, she's wearing a new outfit. The dinghy also received a matching outfit and a name.