Articles on Freedoms from UK's Yachting Monthly Sep 09

[Tom V]

More on three-masted Freedom, from Eric Sponberg, passed on to me from a mutual friend:


Yes, Kriter Lady II is a Garry Hoyt design (he actually designed it) which was intended for the 1981 Whitbread Round the World Race. I attach a photo from my files, the only one I have. Rob and Naomi James were going to be co-skippers as I recall. KLII was designed in 1980 and built in England, launched early in 1981. I was chief engineer at TPI at the time, and I designed the masts for her. We did a big structural research project for those masts, and it was during that time that I was able to document the importance of proper thickness to diameter ratio in carbon fiber free-standing masts. Those masts were the biggest and tallest carbon fiber masts ever designed and built at the time, and they held that record for years, about two decades as I recall.

Naomi entered the Two-Handed Trans-Atlantic race the summer of 1981 in Kriter Lady II with Ron Holland's wife, Laurel Holland. But Naomi was pregnant at the time, and was getting seasick easily. So John Oakeley substituted for Naomi as co-skipper. They got as far as Newfoundland when the mast step started to come loose under the middle mast. They put into St. John's for temporary repairs, then motored the rest of the way to Newport, disqualifying themselves from the race. John Oakeley, as you may recall, was the skipper of Lionheart for the British in the 1980 America's Cup race.

When KLII arrived in Newport, Everett Pearson personally spearheaded the repair of the mast step. ....
On the return trip to England, the builder had not paid TPI for the masts yet, so TPI arrested the boat when it got back to England. I am not sure if TPI ever got its money, because KLII was soon afterwards auctioned off. As I recall, she was bought by a doctor (dentist??) in San Diego and spent years there. As far as I know, KLII is still in Southern California, and probably has a different name.

Unfortunately, Rob James fell overboard that autumn of 1981 and drowned (I think it may have been on another boat), so between the auction and Rob's death, KLII never made it into the Whitbread Race

[Michel]

Tom,

Thanks for your information about Kriter Lady II. Alas, a bit of a sad story for the boat and some of the people connected to it. Race yachts with freestanding masts were not born under lucky stars, so it seems. Project Amazon, Sponberg's 60' carketch design for the Vendee Globe (or it's predecessor) also ended rather dramatic. Fortunately, we have the successes of Frog Kiss and the Mouligne family to hold on to.

[Castaway]

Looking for the Castaway article, I found an old series from YM on second hand boats. The Freedom section had the same text (even with the LOD/WL error), but different photos. Glad to see journalists like recycling! I'd include a copy, but can't upload the scanned file.

John Oakley was the manager of Freedom Yachts in the UK during its first incarnation, as well as being a well known racing yachtsman, hence his connection with Kriter Lady II. He sailed a Freedom 35 cat ketch in the Round Britain Race, I think in 1982, but it might have been a later occasion. Naomi James gave up sail racing in 1982, when she was very sick on the Round Britain Race, which she and Rob won: they stayed with us on the Lerwick stopover. He drowned later that year, falling overboard from Colt Cars GB, their 60' trimaran, just before their daughter was born.

Michel,

I'll e-mail the Castaway knockdown article to you as I can't seem to get files onto the board today (although it worked yesterday). It comes to be around 1mB

Gerald

[hxschiller]

Gerald, I have an ancient copy of an American F-33 brochure that says OA = 33', LWL=30, Beam=11', Draft=3'6", Displacement=12,000 lbs., Sail Area=576 square feet, Fuel=25 gals., water=60 gals., power=15 HP Diesel.
I assume that the 3'6" draft is with centerboard retracted fully. Herm

[Michel]

I forgot to add that there is a rope preventer between the centerboard and the case which limits the draft. Board down draft therefore depends on how long or short you tie this rope. This could also explain different figures found for the draft of the F33/35. 3'6'' / 1.05 m draft is indeed with the board up. Since the straight underside of the hull slopes down towards the heel and rudder, longitudinal trim can affect the board-up draft significantly. By sending skipper and crew to the foredeck, I managed to get off the bottom after grounding on many occasions. I think we could reduce draft at the heel with another 4" / 10 cm by moving to the foredeck (before the mast and on the cathead). Being able to lift the heel is a very nice safety feature on the F33/35.

[Crossjack]

Well I have started my response to YM so thanks Gerald for letting me know that the text has been recycled. I am not impressed! When was that centenary edition so I can reference it?

YM also did a full article on the F33 cat sloop in April 86 so they do have the information, I guess they just couldnt be bothered to look it up!

Overall am not sure if I am qualified enough to write a really informed response about Freedoms even with all the fantastic (and interesting) responses here, but as the letter has to be under 200 words to get published, I will just have to make sure it is to the point! All I want is for them to represent Freedoms properly, just as they do other yachts.

Thanks to everyone who has posted a comment so far.... Gerald, I would also be interested in seeing that knockdown article? I was wondering what a Freedom mast would do in a knockdown as its so integral to the boat. Would it rip the coachroof off when the yacht righted? (mind you, maybe I dont want to know!)

PS - Freedoms also get a 12 page mention in the Worlds Best Sailboats Vol 1, by Ferenc Máté

[THATBOATGUY]

They might have mentioned this too!
http://www.sailamerica.com/halloffame/freedom40.asp

Although true to journalistic accuracy, this article is also flawed, not to mention the photo is not a Freedom 40....

George

[Michel]

As so often, they can't even spell Hoyt's first name right twice. I attach an original Freedom brochure anno 1986.

[Michel]

On behalf of Gerald I upload the Castaway knockdown article.

About the behaviour of freestanding masts in knockdown or 360 roll situations I can say the following.

I have a copy of Kim Taylor's 1994 pacific storm survey about the so-called Queen's Birthday Storm between Fiji and NZ early June 1994. It's in the same league as the Fastnet 1979 and the Sydney-Hobart 1998.

In the Fiji - NZ storm there was a catketch, Pollenpath, 40', Hereshoff/Underwood design, 10 tons displacement with freestanding masts. There was a forestay with jib and running backstays to tension the forestay. Pollenpath had 60-70 kts winds and 10 meter seas. They suffered four > 90* knockdowns and one 360* roll without losing the masts. They were mostly lying ahull, that probably helped keeping the masts up. Lying ahull proved to be the most unsuccessful storm tactics of all the boats in the storm (some 20). They had a drogue out for a while but the bridle twisted so the drogue somehow failed. Pollenpath only had damage in the interior because the washboard disappeared and stuff flew around the cabin.

Overall outcome of the study in one sentence is that keeping on sailing actively (mostly hand steering), with controlled speed (by warps or drogue) to keep the boat speed lower than the wave speed, in hindsight proved to be the safest strategy.

[Michel]

As topping on the cake I upload the original Freedom 40 brochure; it all started with this. The brochure contains photos and watercoloured line art. The line art is nice enough to frame. I have the individual pages in high-res if someone wants one. I also have the original typewritten spec documents of the F40CC and F40AC and lots of other articles and documents.