by Joining the large Seventy 7 sail cat and Seventy 8 and Sixty 7 powercats, the new Lagoon Sixty 5 offers comfort, easy handling, remarkable space and a wide range of layout options for all three decks.
The Lagoon Sixty 5 sailing catamaran rounds out the brand’s current ‘big four’ of new models and comes out a year after the Sixty 67 powercat (REVIEW, Issue 53) debuted at the Cannes Yachting Festival.
The Sixty 5 is the French builder’s second-biggest sail model and is inspired by her big sister, the Seventy 7 that debuted in 2016 at Cannes, from where the first hull eventually made her way to Hong Kong for her Asia debut before heading to her home in the Philippines.
The Seventy 8 powercat premiered at Cannes the following year, with the model is hull in Asia arriving in Singapore this year courtesy of dealer Simpson Marine, which last year sold Sixty 7s into Malaysia and Taiwan.
The Sixty 5 is the sailing sister of the Sixty 7, but despite the name, has a greater overall length of 67ft 5in (20.55m), exactly a metre longer than her hull length of 64ft 2in (19.55m).
She’s also the successor to the acclaimed 620, which was launched in 2009 and upgraded with a Nauta interior in 2012, and has proved popular across Asia’s warmer cruising destinations including Thailand, the Philippines and the tropical island of Sanya, ‘China’s Hawaii’.
Like the Sixty 7, the Sixty 5 has streamlined bows, a rounded cockpit, high freeboards and, above all, great volume, as well as a beam of 33ft (10m).
Constructed at the Lagoon headquarters in Bordeaux, where the brand’s 50ft-plus models are built, the yacht was drawn by the brand’s trusted design team of VPLP for naval architecture and Italy’s Nauta Design for the interior. The result is wide circulation spaces on board and a modern, well balanced silhouette.
Mare Van Peteghem, who co-founded VPLP in 1983, says: “I’m a sailor at heart and there was no way the Sixty 5 wasn’t going to be a really easy-to-use yacht that could cruise far and wide under sail in comfort and with seakeeping qualities inherited from her big sister (Seventy 7).
“I dream of going long-term cruising on this boat. Her long legs allow you to eat up the miles and then you can enjoy her comfort at stopovers.”
SPACE ABOARD
Stepping aboard via the aft platform, you immediately appreciate the comfort and ease of moving from one space to another, with the sheltered cockpit acting as a hub for most outdoor activities.
The aft of the cockpit features the reversible bench seat seen on the Sixty 7, an innovative and practical design for use at anchor where guests can relax facing the sea.
The heart of the cockpit is an L-shaped sofa and long dining table with plenty of space to port for loose chairs, offering comfortable dining for six people and up to eight at a squeeze. A wet bar to port includes a fridge, freezer, cooler and sink.
A wide staircase to port leads to a great flybridge, which offers over 330sqft of space protected by a rigid composite bimini, with a wet bar beside the staircase.
The fly has two helm consoles and top-of-the-range electric winches. For the skipper, the visibility is excellent and is aided by a camera system that monitors the front and rear hulls of the catamaran, while a bow thruster is an option for those who may need help parking a yacht of this length and width.
Lagoon offers various furniture options and layouts for the flybridge including a large sunbathing area aft and a dining table alongside a fitted starboard sofa. The Tribu version features an athwartships dining table with loose furniture aft.
OPTIONS ABOUND
There are also a range of choices for the interior, starting with either the galley up or down in the port hull.
With the galley up, located along the port side of the saloon and featuring an island bar, the accommodation options are six cabins, three on each side, or five, with the owner’s suite using the space of the aft two cabins in the starboard hull.
The hull we sea trialled featured the galley down in the aft port hull and this is likely to be the most popular option for Asia-based buyers, with accommodation ranging from four or five cabins, still a large offering.
With this layout, the 322sqft (30sqm) saloon offers two huge sofas on either side, with a coffee table to port and a dining table to starboard. Forward is a navigation station including an elegant chart table, while to its right is a well-equipped bar area with ice maker, wine cooler and refrigerator.
The interior offers remarkable views on all sides including through to the forward lounge, which is accessed by a central door and is one space that underwhelms. More cosy than expansive, it has sunken sofas and just two fixed sun loungers, on either side, although there’s room to throw down a few towels if more people want to lounge.
LUXURY ACCOMMODATION
If the large owner’s suite is chosen, as it was on the version we viewed, it’s located aft on the starboard side and has two stairways, from the saloon and beside the cockpit. It’s also the favourite room of Nauta’s Massimo Gino, who led the interior design with Mario Pedol.
The interior headroom is impressive and the large window offers plenty of light and a nice sea view. Other strong points included a low king-size bed, a library, plenty of storage areas and, through sliding doors, a large en-suite bathroom with his and her sinks, a separate toilet and stairs leading up beside the cockpit.
The guest cabins all feature sea-facing beds and en-suite bathrooms, and are similarly well finished.
There’s an additional layout option. The midships cabin in the starboard hull can be used as a crew cabin with bunk beds, en-suite bathroom, desk by the window and direct access to the kitchen in the galley-down layout.
The galley-down is suitable for a crewed yacht but also offers a beautifully designed enclosed kitchen with a comfortable dinette that could be used by guests for breakfast. Again, the choice is yours.
Designed for long cruises, the Sixty 5’s long-haul design benefits from the experience of the VPLP office and the builder, which has produced over 5,000 Lagoons for the global market since 1984.
Despite its 10-tonne weight, the catamaran flirts silently with nine knots in 15 knots of wind propelled by an almost 100sqm genoa. The mast set back offers good stability and should reassure family owners, although some will reproach the cat’s lack of feeling at the helm.
Standard engines are twin 150hp Volvo D3s with a cruising speed of nine knots or you can upgrade to 180hp Volvo DAs for a cruising speed of just under 10 knots. The range on the latter is about 800nm at 1,500rpm or 467nm at 2,000rpm, which is over nine knots, reassurance that you can reach your next anchorage even on days without wind.
