Posted by Bob (rweeks6508@…>)
I found on the F30 with the camberspar jib that I can sail pretty close to the
wind maybe not as good as my last boat Impulse 21 but she was a racer. Anyway
my last three days out on the way to Elizabeth City, NC and only having a
windvane (non-electronic)to watch, it seemed that by watching the telltales and
trimming a bit we were not far off from a good beat.
Bob
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From: lance_ryley <lance_ryley@…>
Date: 2007/10/10 Wed PM 12:01:41 CDT
To: FreedomOwnersGroup@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [FreedomOwnersGroup] Re: Newbie Question
Hi Freeman,
I don’t own a 32 or a 33, but I’ve owned a 40 CK and currently own a
45. I can’t talk about the interior volume, but I’ll speak a little bit
about the rigs.
In either case, the rigs are essentially self-tending. The 32’s jib is
100% with a camberspar, so tacking is no issue. The main is big and
roachy on the Freedom sloops and provides most of the power. On both
the 40 and the 45, “Coming about” was more of an announcement to hold
onto your drink and move to the sunny side rather than to jump to any
kind of actual work.
There are a couple things I like about the cat-ketch rig. One is the
seemingly infinite variety of sail area you can choose from, especially
if both sails have two reefs. We found that Bright Star sailed better
on most points of sail in 15kts + with at least one reef in the mizzen
to reduce weather helm. Regardless, she was fast on close reaches, beam
reaches, broad reaches, and there’s nothing quite like a cat ketch on a
dead downwind run, wing on wing with two giant ‘mains’ while everyone
else’s genoa is collapsing and wrapping around the headstay. It’s a
stable platform, and aside from the weight of raising two ‘mains’ each
time you sail, I found the rig to be a phenomenally good one - unless,
of course, you have to beat to ‘windward.’ heh. Bright Star was good
for 90 deg. tacks if the water was flat and it was above 10, otherwise,
she tacked through somewhere between 100 - 110. Still not insanely bad,
but… definitely not an ‘around the buoys’ racer.
The ‘cat sloop’ rig of giant main and small jib definitely helps you
point. It’s actually taking some getting used to on the new boat and I
find myself looking at other boats to see how high they are to get in
the ballpark of what’s possible. She’s reasonable on a reach, too,
although the previous owners obviously saw the limitations in the
smaller jib and added a gennaker. Dead down wind, the camberspar jib
self-gybes out wing on wing and is pretty well behaved staying out
there up to about 120 deg apparent, but I think the pressure on the
sail is doing more to stabilize motion than adding any drive. And… if
you plan to head offshore, your sail area choices are more limited than
with the cat ketch rig. it’s 1 reef+jib, 2 reefs+jib, no jib, no main
in most cases. The tradeoff is - as TW alluded to - that you can
probably carry the large main long past the time you’d start reefing
the mizzen on the ck rig. on the 45, we’ve been pretty comfortable up
to 25 knots before the first reef.
Either way, you’ll end up with a great boat that is suitable for the
Chesapeake (I bought Bright Star in Deale), Maine, or anywhere in
between.
Lance
Glory
— In FreedomOwnersGroup@yahoogroups.com, “freemandodsworth”
<freemandodsworth@…> wrote:
Hello all,
I am a new member of the group, not a Freedom owner yet but hope to
be! I love my Bristol 29, but want to upgrade to a larger more family
friendly boat. I am settled down to 2 boats, the F32 and the F33.
The obvious question is performance. I like the layout of the 32
best, but the simplicity of the cat ketch is very attractive. I sail
on the Chesapeake, so light air performance and short chop
performance
are both important. Can anyone shed some light on these 2 boats for
me? Thanks again, and I look forward to corresponding with you all.
The shallower draft is attractive, but I don’t like the cb well in
the
cabin of the 33 cabin.
Freeman