They changed from a monohull to a cat!

Evelyne and Jean
Present boat:

Lagoon 410

"Yapuka"
Monohulls: Sangria - Atch 1050, built themselves in 10 years.

Programme

: Liveaboard – around the Mediterranean, then the Atlantic.

The catamaran’s ‘plus’:

“I like the lack of heel; especially in bad weather, it’s very reassuring.”

Evelyne and Jean’s story began in the early 80s, when they bought the plans for an Atch 1050 from Dominique Provin, plus a few sheets of metal to build it with. In 1991, after ten years’ hard labour, the longed-for monohull was launched. After their Sangria, the Atch immediately felt much more comfortable and liveable… On the family’s menu are numerous cruises and a whole pile of memories of magnificent anchorages, sailing from their base in the Channel. England, the Channel Islands, south, north - the family has few limits and spends more than 60 days a year aboard, covering on average more than 1,000 miles a year.
In 2006, Evelyne and Jean left to cruise in the West Indies with three other couples, aboard a catamaran. To avoid having to decide who would be in charge of the boat, they decided to hire a skipper, which in addition would help them get to know an area they were not familiar with. With nine of them aboard the Lagoon 380, Evelyne and Jean discovered another way of living aboard a boat. Space, comfort, privacy: 9 people could move around a catamaran in a way that was unknown aboard their monohull. Then Evelyne, who is often seasick, discovered the joys of sailing flat… In short, they were filled with enthusiasm and this experience was to prove decisive for what followed! On their return from the West Indies, the family sailed again aboard the Atch. At the end of 2006, Jean had a few work problems and was able to envisage spending some time fitting out a boat. Yes, but which boat? Rapidly, and in the light of the programme they envisaged, the choice of a catamaran became obvious. Evelyne and Jean wanted to welcome their children aboard, as well as their young grandchildren, aged one and four and a half. All this for a trip round the Mediterranean, then the Atlantic. They hesitated for a long time, between a Lagoon 380 and a 410. Finally, they decided on a good second-hand boat, a 410 from Apaca’s charter fleet. They took possession of it at the end of the season, and after a quick preparation, set off from Hyères on 15th October 2007, to reach their home port in Brittany on 10th November. A good cruise via Gibraltar, which confirmed that their choice of a new home had been the right one. Close-hauled, with more than 45 knots of wind – ‘winter’ conditions, yet Evelyne and Jean always felt perfectly safe. Because although the catamaran’s advantage is the space it offers its occupants, the comfort and safety derived from sailing flat are also important arguments from a safety point of view. Aboard a cat, the boat remains level and is therefore much more comfortable in a rough sea. Watches can be kept from the warmth of the saloon, (from which there is a ...