THE BOAT

I put this blog together last Wednesday. We were traveling on a train through the French countryside at 175 mph, on our way from Aix-en-Provence, France to Basel, Switzerland. However, instead of the planned direct route, we missed our connection in Lyon and ended up going to Basel via Paris and Strasbourg, which added about four hours to the trip. A pretty comfortable way to travel though.

Starship II is a 2010 owners version Lagoon 400. It's 39'-3" long, 23'-9" wide, draws 4' of water and the top of the mast is 70' above the water. It has two Yanmar 39 hp auxiliary diesel engines; a Kohler 9 kw diesel generator; 540 watts of solar panels; a 10' Walker Bay inflatable dinghy with a rigid hull and15 hp Yamaha outboard; chart plotter; auto pilot; sonar; radar; AIS (automatic identification system,); all the usual wind/speed/depth instruments; assorted safety equipment, indoor navigation station; air conditioning; water maker; two small fridge/freezers; three burner stove; oven; microwave; grill; three bedrooms; and three 3/4 bathrooms. There are definitely catamarans that sail better and faster, but since my definition of cruising is to be anchored in one cool spot 90% of the time and only spend 10% of the time getting to the next cool spot, I wanted something that was built more for comfort than speed. Kind of like me. 

It was built in France, where the original owner had it outfitted. Over the next five years he crossed the Atlantic to Nova Scotia, went down the east coast of the US, throughout the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and up the west coasts of Central America, Mexico, US and Canada, to his home in Alaska. He then had the boat shipped to Ft Lauderdale where a couple from North Carolina bought it. They put it up for sale within a year, because they mostly went to the Bahamas and back, so wanted something faster than a sailboat.

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From the helm you can control all of the sails, so the only time you really need to go on deck is to unzip the main sail's sail bag; or if we want to raise the red, white and blue "screacher", which we use when the wind is 15 knots or less.

This is the view from the helm. You can easily see three of the boat's four corners, which is really nice when docking.

The tramp on the bow is a great place to lounge while sailing and watching dolphins; or at anchor and looking at the stars.

Looking back from the port bow to the bridge deck and helm.

This is the cockpit, which includes easy access to the deck, helm, salon (living room) and galley; complete shade; seating for at least eight; and one of the fridge/freezers.

View from the cockpit into the salon/galley.

The center portion of the salon/galley.

The port side of the salon, showing access into the port hull.

The starboard side of the salon/galley, with access into the starboard hull through the closed door.

The galley overlooking the cockpit.

Looking from the salon through the galley and cockpit.

The aft half of the owner's hull.

The forward half of the owner's hull.

Looking through the owner's head into the stand alone shower.

The owners head as seen from the shower.

View from the shower all the way to the owner's bedroom at the back of the boat.

This is the aft guest cabin. It has the same size bed as the owner, which is between a double and a queen.

The forward guest cabin is set up as two singles in this photo, but can easily be changed into a double.

Each one of the two guest cabins has a small head like this one.

That pretty much covers it.