Catamaran IMPI - Raiatea to the Tuamotu Archipelago 

Excuse me for this way of contacting you, but time does not leave me a choice. I know this message will come as a surprise to you since we did not know each other, but the grace of God directed me to you and I would like you to read my message attentively . In short, my name is Zambrano Adelinda of Italian origin and I live in France. I suffer from a serious illness which condemns me to certain death: it is throat cancer. I have a sum of 750 .000 euros which I would like to make a donation to a trustworthy and honest person so that she uses 50% of this money to help the poor in her entourage the rest will come back to her, because it is on you God adored me . I am the owner of a used vehicle sales business and I lost my husband 3 years ago which affected me a lot and I have not been able to remarry until this day, we had no children. I would like to donate this amount before my death since my days are numbered for lack of this disease for which I have not had a cure. I would later like to know if you can benefit from this donation. Considering my current situation, I am not often logged into Instagram, so please email me for more details: gradelinda548@gmail.com .Thank you

He he - thanks so much for the comment - I need to check out your Linssen sometime :) I must say we did a lot to Impi and changed many features in the boat so it may not be exactly as one would usually see the 440, but yes, really nice cruising boat for a couple of old sailors like ourselves :) Cheers for now and hope to see you in the waterways some time ...

She has been good to us and yes, we keep doing preventative maintenance which without a shadow of doubt has paid off very well. Not only do we prevent FAILURE of components which leads to other expensive breakdowns, but we also get to plan and choose where and when to do our chores. This means we spend island time enjoying the islands where some sailors claim sailing is doing maintenance in exotic locations, for us we explore exotic locations and do repairs in locations convenient to us. Preventative maintenance IS the way to go when sailing the oceans. Cheers mate

+ZoomerEtc1 - Thanks Zoomer - Impi has taken us to beautiful places and in safety. We hope this remains 'the trend' going forward :)

+Makhoe van der Vlugt - Hi Makhoe - sorry for the late reply! Lol - mate we were headed for the Tuamotu atolls and took a gap in the weather after weeks of 'head on winds' had been blowing and where 'head on winds' were predicted again for a few weeks. We wanted to be cruising around the atolls and not fighting upwind to get there :)

Thank you for the nice comment Runner - we would encourage you to work at making the dream to sail these waters a reality. It truly is magnificent cruising through the Tuamotu Archipelago ... cheers for now

+ruiserpapinto pinto - Thank you for the comment. Lol about the shark - they are scary when down there but luckily they are afraid of bubbles, so I use air quickly :) It takes a lot of movement for things to fall off the table as catamarans are fairly stable and do no lean over. If it becomes severe we simply pack everything into a container we have nearby. One would be surprised though how things can stay in place even in bumpy conditions. Perhaps you saw our video in stronger winds at ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-wgDx8ZOLeYA.html ?

alberciik Hi again Alec, we left around November which is a good time although we had a fairly rough passage. I think the reason for that was mostly because we headed directly for Brazil, whereas a mate of ours who left on the same day said he had great weather sailing further north via St. Helena Island

Thank you Thomas - pleased you enjoyed the vid and the boat has been great so far :)

Marty Morse Hi Marty - just arrived New Caledonia and now have some internet again :) We have two 20 ltd tanks in the dinghy fitted in a stainless steel frame to keep it secure and lockable. We carry another 2 or 3 x 20 lt cans (depending on remoteness of location) on Impi. So, in total between 80 - 100 ptrs. We use our dinghy a lot and sometimes even reach to neighbouring islands for day trips. It really does enable us to see more than sailors with small dinghies and small engines. Cheers and thanks for the comments

Thanks for the super fast reply from the other side of the world! Your dinghy trips look like pure joy! You are an inspiration and impetus to get out there and see the less traveled parts of the ocean planet. Safe travels!

Marty Morse Always our pleasure - hope you get out here soon ...

Thank you for the comment and good advice. I must say I was rather surprised as I made it private and did not want it published on account of struggling to find decent youtube music! I really dislike the fact that we cannot use other music ... just don't know how to get the royalties for it! We did post one of Impi under sail ... I think it is called 'crossing the atlantic in fairly large seas' ... or something like that, but yeah, now that we have a Go-Pro will capture some footage underway. I am not sure how it will video at night ... which is a pity really as some nights the moon shimmers off the water and all is so beautiful, but have never been successful at capturing the moment on camera for a lack of light.thanks again ...

Catamaran Impi Thank you for the reply. The fairly large seas video was the first one I watched. I subscribed to your channel after that! The only reason I suggested a video at night was because your boat lights up like a Christmas tree. I seem to recall LED lighting of different colors? Inside at night looked awesome on one of your other videos. I am also curious what it sounds like under sail, from the main cabin. I've heard plenty of old creaky monohulls. I'm guessing a new Lagoon is somewhat quieter but my curiosity wants to know! Anyway, hopefully you are out there right now!

Wakeywhodat What a cool reply! Sadly I have to say that catamarans are not 'quiet sailing vessels either' ... in the cockpit the boat is quiet but downstairs in the bedroom there is a lot of noise as the waves bash against the hulls and so forth. Of course when one is at anchor all is quiet and when underway Ana likes mostly to sleep upstairs on the couch. Interestingly enough, up on the bridge there is peace ... even in rough weather so it seems the higher up out of the water one is the better it is. These are the 'joys of sailing in deep oceans' for days on end ... and yes ... I really wish there was such a thing as a 'silent catamaran'. A mate of mine who designs catamarans in SA and is a marine engineer, tells me they design cats to flex in the ocean ... so I guess that also contributes to a certain level of noise with furniture and so on. Good comment !

terrence simms - we were there too ... but dreams are all good ... and the enjoyment in life is the possibility of some major event which could change that dream into reality for one! I thought this life would never happen for me, but I kept plodding away at things ... took many risks in business ... some paid off and some didn't ... in the end it suddenly came together for us. Im sure it can happen for you too!

Cheers

alberciik Hi - great to hear from you. The 440 is a terrific 'home on the water' ... it has performed incredibly well ... as you know all the way from Cape Town and also in some pretty bad weather conditions too. Cats always have a tendency to 'slam' in certain conditions and seas and of course the prudent skipper has the means to reduce this, but yes, sometimes we experience 'slamming'. The nice thing with the Lagoon range of cats is the V shape between the hulls. This not only adds strength but also breaks the up flow of water which on some brands 'slams' against the floor dead centre which can be uncomfortable and cause vibrations through the boat. Cats tend to flex and Lagoon fibreglass's the bulkheads through the centre of the boat to the mid ships on each side, however, on the outer sides they tend to use a resin putty of sorts which I don't like. We at some cost had ours glassed in, as otherwise some Lagoon owners tell me they have experienced 'cracks' in this region which also distorts joints in the wood work and so on. We are always examining and use a long fiber optic camera to scout around the boat and have to say the 440 has been impressive. On the mechanical side - yes, the SD 50 sail drive does not impress me at all. Initially we lost the cone clutches a number of times and finally figured out the sail drive wants oil changes more regularly than specified in the owner manual. Since then, we have been fortunate with them, but as said, not impressed with Yanmar SD 50 sail drives. Other than that, the regular type maintenance is important and is probably the reason we don't spend as much time as some sailors we meet doing lengthy repairs - regular preventative maintenance is important. Thanks alec - enjoy Portugal - my mate lives there!

Dis die LEKKER lewe - as they say Danie :)

Excuse me for this way of contacting you, but time does not leave me a choice. I know this message will come as a surprise to you since we did not know each other, but the grace of God directed me to you and I would like you to read my message attentively . In short, my name is Zambrano Adelinda of Italian origin and I live in France. I suffer from a serious illness which condemns me to certain death: it is throat cancer. I have a sum of 750 .000 euros which I would like to make a donation to a trustworthy and honest person so that she uses 50% of this money to help the poor in her entourage the rest will come back to her, because it is on you God adored me . I am the owner of a used vehicle sales business and I lost my husband 3 years ago which affected me a lot and I have not been able to remarry until this day, we had no children. I would like to donate this amount before my death since my days are numbered for lack of this disease for which I have not had a cure. I would later like to know if you can benefit from this donation. Considering my current situation, I am not often logged into Instagram, so please email me for more details: gradelinda548@gmail.com .Thank you

+jon michaels Hi Jon! The owners version just means it has more luxurious fittings and the one hull os dedicated as an owner bedroom, office, walk through closets, bigger bathrooms etc. There actually is a dodger at the helm - if you look carefully you will see it tucked away under the blue canvass cover. The dodger pulls up and over the helm clipping in behind the seat section so fully closed from the front with a huge flexible window in-front. The thing is that we dont bother using it as we would operate from downstairs when we feel the need to but we also like sailing 'exposed' more for the thrill of sailing in the elements and also it gives one a good feeling of the forces being exerted on the rigging and by extension the boat. Most sailors on 440's sail with the dodger up so we are possibly the 'exception to the rule' - but I really get a thrill feeling the wind and sea spray and we have plenty of fresh water and hot showers. I can't explain the feeling after a hard sail in the weather and then going downstairs and standing in a hot shower - the skin prickles and one's senses feel to be alive - it's my form of a 'rush' if you like :) The glass bottom on the inside of the hulls is an escape route if the boat were to capsize. They used to be 'opening ports' (just above the water line) but after some sailors forgot to close with devastating consequences they changed it to a fixed thick glass which gets smashed out with a tungsten tip hammer positioned nearby. I am told the glass is almost as strong as the fiber glass itself but would not like to put that to the test :). In all our years of heavy sailing we have yet to experience any sort of leak here. Thanks for the comments ... cheers for now

77Cfriend Hi - our previous catamaran had dagger boards but the 440 goes to wind well enough. Of course dagger boards would help it to weather even more but then again on long distance cruising we try and keep the winds astern (although not having much of that lately). Dagger boards have a place on cats but do add to the maintenance and take some room from the interior of the boat. It really depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking for better performance 'up wind' then certainly. For us - no - we would not want dagger boards again. Cheers for now

Catamaran Impi thanks

All good - having said all this, I know of friends who would certainly have a different opinion to me around this.

It is always a compromise from what I read about cats, performance vs comfort and weight. what was your previous catamaran? What did you like or not like about it? I think the single biggest decision I need to make is weather I go with dagger boards or not when I buy my cat, I was a long time mono-hull sailer now switching to cats. Thanks

77Cfriend Hi again ... Yes, they like to use the word 'compromise' although I don't really like the use of that word with Impi. Many folks doing work on the boat use the word as means to explain why I need to sacrifice space for an appliance for example, whereas with a little poking around and summing up the scenario usually manage to find a hidden unused spot to locate the item in. But yes, certainly in this case, a compromise is true as performance is affected by weight and weight by the additional items to create comfort. I guess we have erred toward the comfort side of things and therefore are heavy. Still, the boat performs pretty well being loaded. The previous cat was a Catana 471C. It is a lovely catamaran and I would not want to 'slam it' here - we just felt the Lagoon 440 offered a lot more in terms of 'home comforts' - for example the queen sized beds that have space around the edges and not wall to wall, the height of the bed with clearance to the ceiling was 'smothering' on the Catana because they needed to build it high for 'width' of hull and building a narrower hull for speed found the space needed closer to the ceiling. The layout in the saloon area is also smaller considering the cat is longer whereas the Lagoon has really come up with an amazing amount of space for its size. Many sailors on 50 ft cats come on-board Impi and wont want to believe it is a 45 foot boat for the amount of space it offers. The Lagoon also has a number of nifty 'get away' areas such as the bridge and the little seating lounge in front of the boat and so on. So for us, we felt it to be more of a home with added space and thats really what we wanted without going for a massive sized boat. We never thought the Lagoon 440 would perform anywhere close to the Catana but surprisingly enough - I feel little to no difference between the boats. I do like the bridge deck clearance under the Catana which is higher. Also, we get the 440 to point every bit as high (if not higher) but then again we may now be more experienced at sailing. I would guess that where the dagger-boards come in is over long distance in 'drift / current'. One may notice less 'side ward slippage' over distance but then I am guessing here. By the way, my family have always been great mono hull sailors - love mono hull boats but the Cat is nice when sailing long distances and anchoring in shallow areas. We find its so nice to be 'upright' even in foul weather ... but then again ... I may just be getting old :)

+Gregory Windrum Hi Gregory - great to have the diving experience before you set off on your cruise! This is a Lagoon 440 - 45 ft cat and is an 'owner version' boat. Hope to see you on a boat soon - cheers