Yachting

82 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MAY 2016

USED BOAT TEST The UKÕs most comprehensive yacht tests

This innovative

wishbone Cat Ketch

became popular in

the 1980s for her speed, agility

and ease of handling. Duncan

Kent climbs aboard to see

what makes her so different

The UKÕs most comprehensive yacht testsThe UKÕs most comprehensive yacht tests

This innovative

Freedom 35

E

very yacht needs a mast, but not

every mast needs standing rigging

to hold it up. It would be easy to

dismiss a rig that one feels looks

‘wrong’ as actually being wrong,

but when you’ve sailed a Freedom rig you’ll

realise how they got their name. Freedom

Yachts of Rhode Island, USA, produced

the Freedom range of cruising yachts with

free-standing rigs from 1976 to 1985.

Their stayless rig was

originally developed in

1976 by a free-thinking

American, Garry Hoyt,

and his fi rst yacht to

sport this was the fast,

but easy to handle

Freedom 40. The class

won races worldwide and

became a regular sight

at many regattas.

Not to be confused with

the later David Pedrick-

designed Freedom 35,

which came into being

towards the early 1990s,

the American Freedom

33 Cat Ketch became

the Freedom 35 when

production started in the UK, thanks to the

addition of a two-foot long bowsprit.

Performance

The wind during our test day averaged

10-12 knots true, with occasional 15-knot

gusts. The Freedom rig feels like you have

two self-tacking mainsails, so short-

tacking back up the Beaulieu River at the

end of the day was effortless and great fun.

Better still, having two equally sized sails

meant we were able to goose-wing dead

downwind on the way out with much more

control and balance than we’d have had

with a Bermudian rig, all good so far.

With the centre of effort kept low, the

wishbone booms also allow the curve of

force 6 and in the main in force 7. Reefi ng

takes very little time and effort. Once the

outhaul and halyard are released, the sails

simply drop down into the wishbones.

At the helm

Under way, all the lines fall easily to hand,

making her an ideal boat for single-

handing. The sail controls differ slightly

from the usual sloop rig, so at fi rst it can be

a little baffl ing which line does what, but it

soon becomes obvious.

Each wishbone boom has a 3:1 sheet

tackle, routed through a track-mounted

traveller and led back through a cam cleat

to the cockpit. The top of each mast has

a swivel-mounted halyard block and the

halyards are also led aft, along with the

outhauls, reefi ng lines, boom hauls and

a centreboard control line. Forward of

the wheel is a large raised console (an

extension of the coachroof in fact) where all

Freedom 35 – Performance on test

Point

of sail

Apparent

wind

angle

Apparent

wind

speed

Speed

through

the water

Close-

hauled

35° 12-15 knots 4.9-5.2 knots

Fetch 60° 12-15 knots 5.1-5.6 knots

Beam

reach

90° 12-15 knots 5.4-6.4 knots

Broad

reach

120° 8-12 knots 4.4-6.4 knots

Run 180° 8 knots 4.6 knots

the sail to continue all the way to the foot,

similar to those of a windsurfer.

Thanks to her fl exible spars, which

effectively ‘spill’ the strong gusts, the

Freedom is apparently able to withstand

winds up to a force 6 before needing a

reef. In practice, however, we found the

downside of leaving full sail up too long

was her tendency to aquire weather helm,

which was considerable once we had 16

knots or so blowing across the decks and

became quite a handful when we hoisted

the mizzen staysail. Derrick, who owns our

test boat, Green Flash, says he usually puts

the fi rst reef in the mizzen at the top end

of force 4, then one in the main in force

5. The second reef is tied in the mizzen in

RIGHT: After sailing

a Freedom rig you

may think ‘why

aren’t all yachts

made like this?’

Controls for the cat rig are on the console in front of the helm