Lagoon 43

The 43 is a 2026 boat, the most recent design in the fleet, and the brief behind it is visible the moment you come aboard: the outdoor spaces were drawn first and the accommodation was fitted around them, rather than the other way round as it usually goes.

Four double cabins, four bathrooms. One each, no exception and nothing shared along a corridor, which for eight people is the single detail that decides whether the mornings run smoothly or turn into a rota. On a boat of thirteen metres eighty-five that is a generous allocation.

Lounging space sits at both ends. Forward there is a proper area to sit on rather than netting to balance across; aft, the cockpit runs the full width of the boat. The two are used at different hours, and on a windy anchorage one of them is always sheltered.

She is built to be sailed short-handed. The sail handling comes back to where the crew stands, which means eight guests can be aboard while two people work the boat, and nobody's holiday is interrupted every time the wind shifts a point or two.

Beam is seven metres sixty-nine on a length of thirteen eighty-five: more than half the length again. That ratio is what stops a catamaran of this size feeling small, and it is why the deck plan works with eight aboard rather than only with six.

There is no permanent crew. You can take her bareboat with the right qualification, or with a skipper arranged in advance who reads the forecast, picks the bay for the night, and knows which side of the island to be on when the wind gets up.

Draught is a metre thirty. It is the shallowest figure among the eight-berth boats here, and around the Egadi islands, where the water shelves gently and the sand runs a long way out, that is the difference between anchoring in the bay and anchoring near it.

The base is Trapani, on the western tip of Sicily. Favignana, Levanzo and Marettimo are a short sail out, and Trapani itself is a working port with a coast of salt pans behind it rather than a marina built for the season.