TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands Leopard 4800 vs. Lagoon 500

I have chartered the 500 twice and liked the flybridge. Unlike most of my trips which are family or couples am doing a charter as a guys trip (and doing informal races vs two other cats for fun). Has anyone chartered the 4800 and how did it sail? What did you like or not? Just not sure what/where 7 guys would sit/do on the 4800 whereas they could all sit up on flybridge on the 500. Only downside, Lagoon is 8 years old and Leopard is 6 months. Wanted a 450 but no available. Any insight is appreciated.

It sails like a shoebox. Stick with the 500.

LOL Captmonk

Thanks Monk - that is what I thought. Any experience with the Lagoon 520? Displaces 29 tons!! Kinda scares me if breeze is not fresh, but maybe advances since the 500 are worthwhile for the cost??

I am not sure how much time Capt Monk has spent on the 4800. I own half of one so you can add any bias you want to my comments. I have a lot of time on most cruising cats. I owned a Voyage 440 plus prior to this boat.
I purchased the boat strickly on the financial aspects of the charter arrangement. I did not have any great expectations on the sailing ability. It appeared to be a derivative of the Sunsail 444 which is a slug.
It turns out the boat looks like a 444 but is a totally different design from a different designer. It's a Alex Simonis design. He is noted for performance cats and did the Voyage line and the older 4700 which was a decent sailing boat.
I have overall been very surprised by how well the boat sails. It's the best tacking cruising cat I have ever sailed. It performs well on all points of sail but probably points about 5 degrees less close hauled then the Voyage 440. The Voyage was however a exceptional pointing cat. On my last trip we had a informal race with two Voyage 5200's from Virgin Gorda to Anegada. We easily beat both boats.
The Lagoon 500 is a significantly bigger boat then the 4800 yet carries almost 450 sq ft less sail area because of the fly bridge. There is a good article still available online about how well the boat has performed on deliveries from South Africa. Experienced delivery skippers were as surprised as I have been on how well it sails.
As far as hanging out the helm station is not isolated from the cockpit so getting everyone at the hem station is not a big issue.
One last point. If you are divers the 4800 makes a great platform with excellent water access going into the water. You can gear up 8 divers and all go in at the same time. Sadly coming out is not as good with only one boarding ladder.
G

I chartered a M4800 last month, it is plenty fast and tacks well. In addition to sailing well it is very easy to sail. All the lines are led to the helm with a clutch for each one, no going to the mast to set this or release that. It also has slab reefing that keeps all the work at the helm, winch down the reef while easing the main halyard and you are done. The set up on the boat encourages reefing as it is so easy. Most all sailing functions can be done with a single person.