In 1984, Jeanneau opened a workshop that is a landmark in the history of sailing competition : Jeanneau Techniques Avancées (JTA). This workshop combined the passion for competition and high-tech construction and gave birth to over fifty high-tech competition prototypes including formula 40, maxi-multihulls, 60’ trimarans, One Tonners, F1 monohulls, America’s Cup Boats, Globe Challenge etc.

The team in charge of the construction of these racing boats quickly accumulated know-how and results, Philippe Poupon’s 1986 Route de Rhum victory on Fleury Michon VIII being the best example. But ocean racing and sailing competition don’t generate a stable enough activity, so in response to a specific request from a customer, JTA began construction of a cruising catamaran using the same technological means as the racing multihulls from the plans of Marc Van Peteghem & Lauriot Prevost. The first Lagoon, the LAGOON 55, was born in 1987 and she was unveiled to the public during the Océanides, at Brest, in April 1988.

The success was immediate. From all over the world, impassioned customers came to place their orders for this elegant, fast, custom-equipped model. The staff at JTA alternated the construction of the LAGOON 55 and the competition boats with the same spirit of research to maximize performance.

In 1990, the first three places in the Route du Rhum were won by JTA trimarans (Pierre 1er Florence Artaud, Fleury Michon IX Philippe Poupon, and RMO Laurent Bourgnon), recognizing 6 years of work for the team. In the same year, a new shipyard was created in Nantes, to organize the production of the LAGOON 55, followed by the Lagoon 57, the LAGOON 47, as well as the continued assembling of racing multihulls.

At the beginning of the 90’s, Laurent Bourgnon on RMO-Primagaz monopolized the victories while Lakota (ex Pierre 1er), with Steve Fosset onboard, pulverized the records in the Pacific. During this time, JTA continued to produce more and more complex prototypes, continually testing the latest technology and the most current materials as the LAGOON’s activity grew in size, culminating in a subcontracting agreement in the USA for two models destined for the charter market: the LAGOON 37 and the LAGOON 42.

In 1993 and 1994 the WORLD economic crisis reduced LAGOON activities but was quickly followed by an impressive resurgence in 1995 following the takeover of Jeanneau by Bénéteau and the link between LAGOON and CNB (Construction Navale Bordeaux) was born. JTA-LAGOON made good use of those two years of transition to make an in-depth appraisal of the technologies available for constructing their boats. High-level competition resulted in more and more boats being built using ultra specific technology (pre-preg vacuum at over 200°F, even autoclave). To the staff at JTA, this seemed too costly to adapt to cruising sailboats as the ratio of price to technology needed to remain reasonable. It was during this period that the choice turned toward infusion, which was developed after thousands of hours of research in secret to make it a viable and efficient technology. At the same time, JTA’s notoriety enabled them to sign a contract with Universal Pictures for two 60’ trimarans to be used in the filming of Waterworld.

With the Mini Transat 97, came the opportunity to validate this technology with a 21’4” prototype, admittedly very small but heavily taxed during the 6 weeks of this race. Success is again achieved: Sebastien Magnen, architect for Karen Liquide, wins the Mini Transat 97 and 99, allowing LAGOON to launch into infusion construction on a large scale, which now after 5 years has become the industry reference.

Today Lagoon, intimately connected to CNB, no longer builds racing boats, but the team has retained the spirit necessary for building exceptional prototypes, a permanent attention for the end-user, a sailor’s sense transmitted to each operator, a taste for beautiful objects, built with care, a permanent search for the newest technical solutions and a constant attention for reliability.