The Lagoon Seventy 8 is 1 inch longer in length and width than the size of a doubles tennis court. Picture sitting center court at Wimbledon: With lifelines placed just outside the service lines, you have an accurate visual of the Seventy 8’s sheer magnitude, which can be difficult for owners of 78-foot-long monohulls to grasp. Origin Story Lagoon is a division of Groupe Beneteau, the world’s largest builder of sailing yachts, and the Seventy 8 Powercat is a developmental sistership of its Seventy 7 super sailing cat. The Seventy series yachts are built at Construction Navale Bordeaux in France, which had to add a new yard to construct these catamarans because they require separate stern molds for the power and sail versions. As You Like It
The Seventy 8’s one-level salon exudes cool elegance. Owners are given a blank sheet of paper to arrange the space as they wish. On the yacht I toured, there was a seating area to starboard with a wraparound sofa and 55-inch fold-down TV, great for family movie night. To port was a glass-topped dining table with seating for eight, next to a wine cooler.
On standard Seventy 8s, the lower helm is forward to port, with a door nearby that opens to the foredeck.
Dance Floor, Anyone?
The foredeck on the Seventy 8 has teak planking covering a 322-square-foot platform — the same size as some studio apartments in New York City. Through the salon door is a sitting area with sofas and a table, with the beam-to-beam open space stretching out beyond. The yacht I toured had a smattering of round, chaise-style lounges with side tables here, but again, it’s owner’s choice.
How Suite It Is
There are multiple choices when it comes to the accommodations in the hulls and, frankly, I lost count at the 10 layouts that are considered standard. And, regardless, owners are encouraged to bring their own ideas.
But I fell in love with the arrangement called “owner’s stateroom avec plage” (meaning “with beach”). Leaving room at the stern for a VIP stateroom with en suite head, this layout gives the owners the remaining hull, with a walk-around, athwartships king-size berth facing windows, a walk-in closet forward with built-in bureaus, a love seat under bookcases, a desk/vanity, and a marble-lined en suite head with shower.
What I find so special about this layout is that the bulkhead folds outward to become a private teak beach where owners can soak in some rays or simply enjoy a coffee and croissant in the morning.
Guest Zones
The Seventy 8 has three or four staterooms, and both layouts have a crew cabin for two. Guest staterooms can be VIPs with larger berths, or they can have twin berths. Beyond that, Lagoon offers some unusual options to turn the port after staterooms into a cinema room with four lounges and a large-screen TV, or into a studio with a built-in massage table and a cabin for a masseuse. Whether you’re into bridge, canasta or Go Fish, Lagoon also offers a playing-room option with twin card tables and a head. Or, if you’re fanatical about business, the builder can create a boardroom with a conference table and video projector. Bring your own whiteboard.
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French Cuisine
The galley, as on most European yachts, is hidden from sight. It’s in the port hull, either forward or aft depending on the owner’s layout choice. Either way, the chef has a bistro-quality office for creating nouvelle cuisine. On our test yacht, the galley and crew mess were combined, with a dinette opposite an L-shaped work area that had a Miele induction cooktop and a double-door fridge, plus a separate freezer, an espresso machine for a morning cafe noisette, and a washer/dryer.
How Do You Say Tractor in French?
While owners can choose 510 hp Volvo D11 diesels, Lagoon says that most owners are going green: the color of John Deere. Our test yacht had 580 hp John Deere N13 diesels turning 32-inch Bruntons five-blade props. Top speed was 20 knots, with a transatlantic range (4,000 nautical miles) at 10 knots from her 2,246-gallon tanks, according to the builder. When showing us the engine rooms, our French host kept pointing at the green engines and repeating, “blindé.” Turns out, it means bulletproof.
Upstairs
Like the rest of the Seventy 8, the flybridge is stunning in its space, and the layout is ready to customize. Owners can choose a hot tub with surrounding sun pads or a rail-to-rail sun pad aft. A bar with stools or a dining table that seats eight can be added without crowding. Whatever the choice, the skipper has a centerline helm forward and a doublewide companion chair to starboard.
The Back Porch
Built-in seating lines the cockpit, from the salon sliding doors to the transom settee. A sun pad/lounge is to port, and an L-shaped dinette is opposite with three chairs. Wide stairs on each side lead to the stern platforms, where a TenderLift platform spans the space between the two hulls. The platform can carry a tender as large as the 15-foot-1-inch Williams Sportjet 460. When not carrying the tender, the platform can become a dry or submerged beach for swimming or sunning.
Fusion
The Seventy 8 has resin-infused fiberglass hulls and keels, with balsa core above the waterline in areas such as the deck to add rigidity without weight. All totaled, she has a 136,911-pound displacement.
