My Freedom 30 cat ketch when built in Hamble shrunk to 28 in the US. Also the 33 is a 35.and the 32 is a 33. Any idea why they are named differently? Is the outboard rudder counted there?
Someone said it was just marketing, but HIN here is supposed to reflect bow to stern length.(not loa waterline or LOA)
I was told my F30 CK is exactly the same hole as the US F28 CK. As the measured length for Marina’s is 9.15 m at least for my boat, the 30 foot designation best reflects the overall length and the waterline length is less than 28 feet anyway
I can explain the reason why US built 28s and 33s are numbered 30 and 35 in Europe. I was CEO of the UK builder, Fairways Marine and we included the bowsprit. The boats on either side of the Atlantic are identical. It was driven by marketing considerations. Fairways Marine also built the Fisher motor sailer range to a very high standard, a standard we duplicated with the Freedoms. People comparing boats on price use LOA as a measure of value. We did not include the big rudders on the stern. The best way I can illustrate the build standard is by comparing the build cost of the 30. She cost £18,000 to build to our standard. We asked one of the giant French builders and Marine Projects in England to quote us on the 30 delivered to our fit out factory at Port Hamble near Southampton. Both quoted £10,000 in 1981. Marine Projects was the subcontractor for Moodys, 40ft and below. We decided that our boats must be capable of sailing anywhere and we should not build to a lower standard so Fairways continued to build the 30 itself.
1 Like
In my opinion, the Freedom 35 (33 in the US) was probably the best of the first generation Freedoms. We shipped a complete American built 33 and made our hull tooling from it. Back in 1980, a 33ft LOA sailing boat was a popular size, a 40ft LOA was considered quite large at that time. Gary Hoyt’s exploits racing his 40 at the Antigua Week and winning every race with what looked a strange craft set tongues wagging and some yachting journalists wrote about it. We saw the Freedom 35 as our primary model. At that time, the Contessa 32 was a much loved and admired sailing boat built by Jeremy Rogers and designed by David Sadler, over 700 were built. Jeremy had introduced the OOD34 injection moulded model to be his next generation in 1978 but several suffered in the Fastnet Race storm of 1979. We put a Freedom 35 in the Round the Island Race, the UK’s largest participant race and that year had 1,813 participants. The island was the Isle of Wight. the start it was wind against tide Force 7, the OOD 34 class had started ahead of the general fleet, I think by an hour. The Freedom 35 caught up and passed all the OOD 34s and won the race. I had provided John Oakley with a Freedom 35 to race in the round the buoys events, notably the Solent Series, and the Round the Island race. He won all but one of the Solent series (he had to retire with a stone jamming his centre plate). The reason why the Freedom 35 sailed so fast and easily was the efficiency of the cat ketch wrap around sails controlled by the wishbone booms with outhauls. Think of the shape of the wing of an aeroplane. We did wind tunnel tests that showed 96-97% efficiency compared to a mainsail on a track up the back of a mast being 60% efficiency. Anton Emmerton, sales director at Fairways, sailed a Freedom 35 single handed from Salcombe to the Hamble (122 sea miles) and averaged 9.4 knots. I took another Freedom 35 from Largs Marina near Glasgow to Gibraltar and averaged 8.6 knots for 1,362 miles. The Freedoms’ were cruising boats that sailed quickly.
1 Like
I had always thought the answer was as simple as - US definition of LOA is at deck level. UK definition of LOA includes pushpins and pullpits.
It was purely marketing driven so prospective buyers would compare the boat with other 30s and the 35 with other 35s. The Freedom 70 was actually 68ft LOA but the interior volume was the equivalent of many longer boats. Freedoms have fore masts set as far forward as possible.
Thank you. You’ve definitely answered a question I’ve had.
Marinas here will measure anchor tip to boom tip or rudder tip. A fellow with his Baba 30 on my dock was taken at his waterline length, though measured loa would have been 35 feet ( saving $220 per month).
My boat was built in Hamble in 1981. 1981 Freedom 28 Cat Ketch hull 112 . It was christened Freeform. The first owner,Patrick Cobhan, sailed the North Sea, Mediterranean, Atlantic, and Caribbean. He sold it to a gentleman in Florida.
I have owned Clave’ 13 years. .jpeg)
Hotstonop, You are correct. Hull length overall length excluding transom hung rudder and bowsprit is US correct length.