It may seem strange after Team Alinghi just launched a giant 90 foot Catamaran (Alinghi 5) to defend the 33rd America’s Cup while at present there is no Catamaran class set to race in the 2012 Olympics (one could well argue that there should be two events, one for Men and one for Women, like other disciplines…)

After the ISAF Conference in May the prospect of an 11th medal (for Multihulls) at the 2012 Games was looking more likely.

No doubt helped by well over 6000 sailors who signed the petition to get Cats back in the Olympics and of course the set up of the new Multihull council (ISAF – The International Sailing Association had disbanded the previous Multihull Committee several years earlier).

The entire issue (the dropping of Cats from the Games) was brought about by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) limiting the total number of competitors and medals per sport in an effort to reduce the escalating costs of the Games.

If there is to be a Multihull discipline the most obvious choice would be the (now one design) Tornado but there is a shortage of time for sailors to prepare for the next Olympics.

The closing deadline for entry to the Tornado Worlds is the end of the month (July) but the ISAF decision will not be made until August 17th and the IOC meeting not until October (which may or may not see the election of a new president). So it will be extremely interesting to see who is racing at the event.

So whatever happens, the full Catamaran sailors will have a whole year in limbo. Many have moved on to different classes or big boats so the question remains if Multihulls come back to the games will the top sailors return?