When I was looking at catamarans in Marines de Cogolin, FR, I went aboard one of the Absolute 50. I was in
France to see a Cata 45 Custom designed by Christophe Barreau. Two of these were built using the
deck top
mold from a
Catana 43. Barreau is the
designer of the Catanas after Crowther.
Barreau also designed the Absolute 50. It had many similarities to the Cata 45. It was fitted out much better, but was not as fast. I was told that the first Absolute had hulls that had too flat a bottom and tended to slip sideways under pressure. The second
boat had the hulls deepened to provide a better bite in the
water.
I was not impressed by the level of finish in the
interior. It was more of a
Beneteau production boat level. My wife and I were not impressed by the boat and it was very expensive. Both boat were
for sale at the time.
I was told that the
project was started by a dentist who wanted to build his kind of
catamaran. Barreau wanted to use what he had learned from the Catana 471 and the Cata 45. Check out the Cata 45 video on uTube.
Terry