A camera crew showed some catamarans briefly at the end of stage 17 today.

They looked about 18ft, all the same, had pin top mains with alot of roach. They were sloop rigs, with jibs. NOthing fancy, no spin poles, wings, etc.

I;ve seen a;ot of boats, but I could not identify these.

They had what looked like maybe a snake, in the shape of a large 'S' near the tip of the main. Then they had what looked to be 'F2' the f in cursifs(sp?), near the bottom.

What are those?

"Cursive" (which is no longer being taught in many schools.)

I thought one of them looked like an old G-Cat. To me, they looked shorter than eighteen feet.

Probably be a Topcat...


http://www.topcat.de/e/index.htm

Topcat is a German built cat very well suited for carrying on top of your car...

But these all had a snake looking S near the tip of the
main and F2, in large letters near the bottom.

I too thought that at least one of them also had a front crossbar. I thought G cat too, but what would they be doing in France? If so, thats some awesome marketing.

There was a "G" shaped letter or logo at the head of the mainsail but not "cat" below it. Interesting riddle for the day.

There are probably more older boats in Europe. They're not as use-it-up-and-buy-a-new-one as is the U.S.

Yeah I saw those too. There had to be about 4 or 5 of them and they all had the same emblem on the sails, so it had to be some kind of club or fleet.

-Rob V.
Panama City
Nacra 5.2

Most likely the NEWCAT F2 from NEW MARINE.
Very popular in France as it is made in France.
Some of them made out of polyethelene in a roto moulding process instead of fibreglass/epoxy.
See them alot too around French owned resorts abroad like ClubMed etc.

From what I saw, must have been. The f2 was easy to see.

I don't think that boat has made it across the pond yet.