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By Gordo Barcomb - Lake Jackson, Texas - USA

I think tenderness is the biggest question with this design, at least it has been the main concern with many (me too). I can tell you without a doubt it is a non-issue. Obviously it's no keel-boat with 2500# of lead holding it up. But we can move freely about the boat underway with just a little common sense. Actually, when I say that I mean common sense to keep us level, even with no sense I am confident it would not knock down from crew imbalance alone. My lady doesn't like sudden movements, nor would she like heeling at 30 degrees. But she was more than comfortable even in the higher winds when we were cooking along at probably 10 with maybe 15 degrees heel. Compared to a PDR this thing is rock solid.

I started with both sails full up owing to the light winds. It was my intention to start with one.... but it seemed silly considering the condition. It was the right decision. All speeds are guesses, and I asked Andrew and Breaux mostly since I have no feel for it. Winds to start were light, about 5 steady I'm thinking. There were some light gusts after a while. I think we were doing about 4-6, 6 being during the gusts. She pipes right up when the wind picks up, accelerating rather than leaning. After lunch it was a different story. The wind had risen to about 10-12 with gusts to 15+. I guess this would have been a chance to see what she does with one sail or reefed, but truth be told we never considered it. Even Karen was anxious to see what she would do. We took several things out of the boat that we would hate to loose and discussed again what we would do in a knock down.

First some shots of the prep time. Here is the crew of the Laguna Uno
all hands were helping get her ready!
Chantel
Sarah
Matthew
Mom (Karen)
hris Breaux and I discuss the way I rigged the assembly bolts.
OK, so here I am at the helm....
And part of my happy crew....
Sarah Rides the bow
Dad acts a fool! Standing on
the bow hiding behind the sail.

Launching off the beach was easy as pie, I walked us out to depth and off we went. The sails handled as easy as before, it is so simple to find the happy spot. Anytime the helm got heavy I had Matthew change the sail trim on the forward sail and she could easily be set up to sail herself with very little help from me. I'm sure we were doing 10 or better. You will see one pic where bow and stern are in the air and life was good! I think we all let out a war cry at that point! We tacked and tacked and tacked, never once feeling like we would fall over. I did two jibes and that was fine and uneventful. If she handles this well in these conditions, with full sail on, I have no doubt she will do fine reefed in the June winds we all love so much. Here are some pictures.

We had lunch after a 2 hour sail. Here is a shot of her beached.
Things are fairly calm here...
But here it got FUN!!!!!!!!!!! The boat is planing and we felt like we were flying! Still she handled like a lady with no bad tendencies. A little tweek on the fore sail was used on all points to trim the helm. I never had any issues with lee or weather helm owing to the fact that
I could trim it at will.
I believe this is as far as she heeled. You can see by the wake that we had some way on for sure!
Everyone got real comfortable shifting
when we came about and usually one of the kids was on the windward side to balance the boat.
Two guys might find they were more over than this obviously.
Again you can see the level
sailing she can do.
"Coast Guard....this is rocket ship Laguna... requesting clearance for takeoff...."
A great shot to end with. The weather was awesome, the wind was fine, the water was clear (though FULL of cabageheads!) and the company was delightful

I have a few..... not complaints.... but issues. Simple stuff. The front of the boom on the aft sail is a PAIN! Driver be ware, that thing will kill you :-) The sheet on the aft sail is also a PAIN! It wants to hang on everything. I had it on the rudder cheeks and not only did it want to break that, but being that I offset the rudder to accommodate the motor, it was pulling on the rudder at times and you have to change the sheet setting with every tack. I have a new rig ready for today, will report how that goes.

OK, on the bottom. Guys, Jim knows his stuff! That 2x2 we all thought was unnecessary....yeah, you need that :-) Remember how I was freaked by my PDR with the Luan bottom? Well the 1/2 bottom on Laguna looks JUST like that! Almost looks like jello when you are hitting a wave. The first major change will be that addition. I may even do 3, one bow to stern and 2 just on the main part. My plan is to sand off the paint in that area and glue if with PL Premium and use plenty of screws.

One other little thing... it's still flat bottom. No way to get away from slapping waves. Oh well, I ain't got time for a multichine hull! Next time though!

OK, more to come. We are headed out again, planning on about 15 miles, lunch on an island, stuff like that. WOOOOOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Laguna lives!!!!


*****

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