Hello Kurt-

There are several stories posted on the net about the F25c and I read all of them before I bought mine. I can say that each ama/float has 4000lbs of bouyancy. That translates into almost no chance of pitchpoling. With the large daggerboard you can throw it into a corner very quickly and come out with little fuss. I have seen from the foredeck of an F31R two seperate F25cs [Lyman White in 2001 Nationals and Matt Scharl in 2002 Nationals] do this manuver. Both were coming into heavy traffic [20-25 Fboats] on starboard tacks. They both jybed into holes in traffic and rounded marks pulling away from the competition. Very quick boats!! Actually saw Scharl do this same manuver to cross the finish line only this time after jybing they popped the chute to pull ahead of three F31Rs with chutes up to cross the finish line pulling away. If you enjoy sailing a boat correctly with fast tacks [less than five seconds in some cases] the F25c gives you that chance. Its not heavy so it can be thrown around a little in heavy seas but it something to become accustomed to not be concerned about. Any catsailor would consider all Fboats to luxury liners. If you sail like a catsailor you will be much safer than a sled sailor. Catsailors know when to release/adjust the sails.

Alot of how an Fboat handles is how they are sailed. Being able to recognize when to lower a jib can make a material difference with how the boat handles in heavy air. Ian said "the F25c could handle 40ft waves but would destroy itself going onto the trailer". Bill Adams told me that.

As far as condition I can speak for the one in Texas because its my boat. Its had seven sails because the original owner had a stroke after 3-5 sails and the boat sat in western Colorado until last June. I only sailed it twice because of unreliable crew and water level problems in the summer. The purple hulled F25c with yellow floats and deck is in the SF Bay area and has been sailed actively since 1996. I can't say about the purple boats condition. I am selling mine because I just want a bigger boat but if the new F33 is going to be over two years away I will pull my add and sail the 25c. Ian is supposed to have prices, delivery dates, options and available kits priced soon.

Also the FCA site has a constant chat about whats going on in the Fboat USA world. Theres a Europen F Boat site listed as well on the f-boat site of Ian's.

Hope this helps,

thom

if you want to look at some2001 Nationals pics I took from the foredeck of an F31R try the link below:

http://home.att.net/~t.r.merrill/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html