42: Lagoon 42, hull 169!

[sabella]

Hello!

After a decade of talk, our young family of 4 has finally taken the plunge. We pick up our brand spanking new Lagoon 42, SV Sabella (hull 169), in January 18. Needless to say we are just a little bit excited!

She is an owners version and comes with a basic set up - code zero, 57hp engines with folding props, a couple of fridges, big inverter and 600l of water.

What she doesn't have is an energy generation set up or water maker, nor a way to heat the cabin at this point.

We are novice sailors and our kids will be 1.5 and 4 years old when we take delivery. We are aware that this is a somewhat daunting prospect, particularly in the depths of winter in the Bay of Biscay, so we intend to enlist the help of an experienced skipper to hold my hand from Les Sables d’Olonnes to the south coast of Portugal, and ideally onwards to Cartagena, Spain. The others 3 members of our family will meet us there.

My questions then, if you generous folk would be so kind to share your thoughts and constructive criticism, are:

1. Can anyone recommend a skipper to help us out on that first passage - would you do it differently? Shipping to the Med is in the order of 20k Euro - not an option for us!

2. We intend to spend the winter in a marina, ideally getting her fitted out to enable comfortable living aboard with 2 kids. Our big ticket items are water maker, solar, D400 wind geni and hopefully some sort of heating system as we intend to spend several years in the Med including the winter months. It's a broad question, but where is the best place / country / marina to get this work done? We'd prefer to stay in the western Med if possible. We have a technical background in aviation (maintenance and pilot) and intend to do some of the work ourselves, but this will be limited by looking after 2 crazy kids.

3. For those that have been through the commissioning process with Lagoon, what are your big ticket items to watch out for? We are starting to develop a large question bank, but we still don't know what we don't know!

Thanks so much in advance for your advice - we have a thick skin so happy for spears too!

Cheers,

Aaron and Lara
(Australia)

[slimnrp]

Aaron, Lara

Hi,

We are similarly bringing our new 450 down in the Biscay close season. I have requisitioned the assistance of Halcyon Yachts, who come highly recommended to me.
Halcyon Yacht Delivery | International Boat Deliveries UK

Contact is Ali and she’s very prompt and efficient in getting back to you with deets and prices.

We will keep our boat in Vilamoura for the first 6 months and then head into the med - the weather here is fantastic and marinas are great Value.

From experience on our last boat, you could do worse than go to Portimao Marina for the winter, spring; you have the best pricing around, (no extra fee for cats), and a really good tech firm called Onda Nautica:
Bem vindo ao site da Ondanáutica
Tiago is the contact there and he will be doing my services and extra bits and bobs when we have the boat.

Just for thought - not sure if this is any help.

Best regards

Nigel and Ann

[sabella]

Hi Nigel and Ann,

Your information helps a great deal, thank you! When do you pick up your 450?

Vilamoura is certainly one of our options, thanks for the tech recommendation. If you don't mind I will PM you to learn more about what you had fitted by Lagoon and what you've elected to have done after market.

Thanks and perhaps we'll cross paths soon

All the best in your preparataions,

Aaron

[slimnrp]

Originally Posted by sabella

Hi Nigel and Ann,

Your information helps a great deal, thank you! When do you pick up your 450?

Vilamoura is certainly one of our options, thanks for the tech recommendation. If you don't mind I will PM you to learn more about what you had fitted by Lagoon and what you've elected to have done after market.

Thanks and perhaps we'll cross paths soon

All the best in your preparataions,

Aaron

Aaron

No worries, remember tho’ I’m a sailing noob.

We have a factory visit lined up for October 12, really excited about that as it’s something we’ve done with previous motor boats and makes you feel even more invested in the process.

Handover will be on the 24th and 25th of November at LSD. We will have our Skipper from Halcyon present as a third pair of eyes and ears.

Hopefully sailing down as soon as the weather permits, we’ve been granted permission by our insurance firm, (Y Yacht insurance).

Most of our options are from the Lagoon spec list, solar, gen set, nav electronics. Our dealer Ancasta, are arranging for some stuff to be done by their comissioning partner. SAS; so things like UW lights.

We are having a weight bearing XXL Bimini installed in Les Sable and that’s being done by a Croatian Firm.

Recently took a call ‘offering’ us Alpi Walnut in lieue of the Alpi Mat Teak that i’d specced - sounds like they are aligning the Alpi Walnut through the entire range as vanilla fit.

Feel free to PM me, I’m happy to share what I learn!!

Best regards

Nigel

[stewie]

Palma de Mallorca would be my choice and stay right in the centre of town. It has the largest services in the Western Med for yachts and there is plenty to amuse you for the winter ashore.

[Fence Man]

I have no advice, but I am seriously jealous! Safe travels to you and yours. Congrats on the new boat!

[keithw88]

Dear Aaron and Lara,
I agree with Stewie that Palma is a great place to buy kit and get work done, but Cartagena is VERY MUCH less expensive for berthing and work. I am about to leave Cartagena to get back to Palma for the winter (to which I committed some months back), but after a few weeks here I have decided I would not spend another winter there. Cartagena is VERY friendly to catamarans, and there is a great (though mostly UK) liveaboard community. The downsides are the distances from the two relevant airports and the lack of local distributors of marine kit (so I got what I wanted recently from the Palma retailers, couriered here in 24 hours at no great cost). The town has great history and some fascinating places to visit by car (such as Al Hambra - Mallorca is rather restricted it that regard), but the restaurants are much less interesting than in Palma/ Mallorca.
I am not sure how flights in winter compare between Palma (just its one airport) and the two airports of ALC / Murcia, but I can say winter flights to PMI are significantly reduced during the winter - so being able to get to Cartagena by rail or bus might be an advantage.
Good luck!
Keith

[Vladis]

Hello,

Congratulations on your new boat. If you decide to spend the winter in the south coast of Portugal and given that you want to complete some fittings on your new boat I would recommend Portimão, Lagos, Vilamoura or Albufeira by the given order. Portimão and Lagos are towns with proper life and Vilamoura and Albufeira are more touristic towns with peak life in the summer months. Both Portimão and Lagos have good facilities for doing all kind of jobs in the boat. If you need any specific information feel free to contact me.

Best Regards, Vladis (waiting in Portugal until next spring to go sailing in Greece)