Posted by michel.capel (michel.capel@…>)
Hi David,
Welcome to the Freedom group, I forgot that earlier on. You’re the
first contributor from down under, as far as I know, and I’m around
here for almost 10 years. I’m from the Netherlands (Europe) myself.
We have a small group of Freedoms here, 3 F44s, about 5 or 6 F33s an
F37 sloop and perhaps a few F35 sloops. I’m mainly into the catketch
and don’t know much about the sloops.
You will be amazed with the performance and ease of handling of your
F33; they are truly remarkable! I had one for 8 years and now traded
up to an F44 catketch.
I had aluminum masts on my F33 too. They are heavier than the CF
masts ans less stiff, but much easier to work with. You can put
rivets and bolts in it without too much risk. The fact that they are
less stiff makes them bend earlier in a blow, so you don’t have too
reef early. Think of a Laser or Finn.
About the wishbone setup: I collected a lot of photo’s of wishone
rigging on other types of boats, like the Wyliecats, Nonsuch and
Tantons. The Wyliecat is probably the most modern implementation of
the wishbone rig.
From what I make out of your description of your shakedown cruise,
what your rig is probably lacking, is two suspender ropes
that keep the wishbone fronts level at all times, regardless of the
outhaul. If you loosen the outhaul, the wishbone probably sags dwn a
bit, which is contrary to what you want if you loosen the outhaul.
The height of the wishbone front end is your kicking strap; it
manages the tightness of your leech. If you want, I can email you
the photo’s I collected so you can see how other brands rig their
wishbones.
Cheers mate!
Michel
— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “dholt55” <davidholt@…>
wrote:
— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “michel.capel”
<michel.capel@> wrote:
Michel,
I will post some more photos Night Wing showing more of the fit
out
and the rig.
Great to find others are rerigging using the wishbone rig. I am
wanting to keep the original concept as I believe it works very
well. I am not after racing performance here. My Freedom is for
living on and just cruising. Would you believe I am a trimaran
freak
and have an original Tremolino by Dick Newick and John Olin from
the
US. If I want speed,this is where I go. All I want from my Freedom
is reasonable efficiency. And I don’t mind cranking up the diesel
and doing a bit of motor sailing occassionaly.
The masts I have are aluminium and I have no idea how they compare
with the carbon fibre ones. I have no intention of changing as
they
have been beautifully restored and in magnificant condition. The
wishnbone set up is so simple with a single uphaul coming from the
centre of the leading edge of the wishbone back to a ‘D’ ring on
the
mast. There is also one fitted below and I don’t know how this
would
work. In my recent shake down sail in strong following winds we
gybed a few times and the foreword wishbone just hit the mast on
the
side twice. This worried me and I think the wishbone should be
lifted from two 'D’s on either side of the forward curve to keep
it
off the mast. I’ll take some detailed photos and hopefully get
some
more feedback from others.
The reefing system has been well thought out and consists of hooks
on wire strops at the tack and clew set to the sail. Simply lower
and look up and retension.
I’ll check the height of my masts to see if they are similar to
ones
in the US.
A little trivia. The previous owner who spent a fortune on the
refit
actually had Night Wing shipped to the US and then shipped it back
again to Australia.
Looking for to hearing further from you.
Regards
David
David,
I looked at your pics and am impressed with the state you found
this
boat in! You are really lucky. I am very interested to have a
closer
look at the way your wishbones are rigged (e.g. attachement to
the
mast) and how the reefing lines are done. I’m in the process of
rerigging my wishbone catketch in a fashion similar to yours, so
I’m
really curious! Several others here are also rerigging
catketches.
Would it be possible for you to make some detailed pics of the
front
end of the wishbone and mast and of the reefing line setup?
Many thanks!
Michel Capel
— In freedomyachts2003@yahoogroups.com, “dholt55” <davidholt@>
wrote:
I have just purchased perhaps one of the best restored Freedom
33’s
ever. I am looking to contact owners of similar Freedom 33’s
to
discuss sail options as I plan to replace the current sails
with
fully
battened ones. I have just done a shake down sail over 85
nautical
miles in 15 top 20 kots and achieved 10.5 knots down a large
roller.
Not bad for a crusing keel boat. Very impressed with the
simple
rig
and ease of sailing. I’ll endeavour to add some photos to the
Photo
file to show this beautiful craft.
Looking forward to cantacts
David Holt
Queensland Australia