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| © Yachtsnet Ltd. 2000/2024 |
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Yachtsnet's
archive of boat details and pictures
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The following information and photographs are
displayed as a service to anyone researching yacht types. HOWEVER THE PHOTOGRAPHS AND TEXT ARE COVERED BY COPYRIGHT, AND MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED WITHOUT THE PERMISSION OF YACHTSNET LTD. Details and photographs
are normally based on one specific yacht, but could be a compilation.
No reliance should be placed on other yachts of the same class being
identical. Where common variations exist, we have endeavoured
to indicate this in these archive details. |
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Freedom 35 (cat ketch) |
Brief details |
Builder |
Freedom Yachts/Western Yachts |
Combining a traditional,
full-bodied and moderately heavy displacement long keel hull with an unstayed carbon-fibre
wishbone cat ketch rig, the Freedom 35 is an unusual yacht. Designed
to be easy to sail, Freedoms 35s are often found making long offshore
passages, where their downwind and offwind speed is useful. To many eyes the unstayed rig looks "wrong", but in practice it is strong and reliable - the designer pointing out that even in the 1970s few airliners were being built with wires holding their wings in place. The sleeved sails give a very efficient aerofoil section - akin to a wingsail.
* The word cat in the "cat ketch" description refers not to catamarans, but to American north-east coast style "catboats" which have a mast very close to the bow
with no jib. |
LOA |
34' 9" |
Sail area |
576 sq ft main and mizzen |
LWL |
30' 0" |
Rig |
cat ketch* |
Beam |
11' 0" |
Cabins |
2 plus saloon |
Draught |
4' 2" |
Berths |
6 |
Displacement |
12,000 lbs |
Engine |
inboard diesel |
Ballast |
3,800 lbs |
BHP |
23-28 |
Keel type |
Long keel with external lead ballast keel and transom-hung
rudder. Some yachts also had a centreboard. |
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In 1976 Gary Hoyt and Halsey
Herreshof designed the first Freedom - a 40-footer with twin
unstayed wishbone rigged masts - a cat ketch. The design was aimed at producing
a very easily sailed yacht with good performance, particularly
on long distance offwind passages, where the first Freedom
40 gave some racing yachts nasty surprises on long offwind
races. The Freedom 40 was soon followed by other sized versions,
this being the Freedom 35, built in the UK by Western Approaches
of Falmouth for the distributor Freedom Yachts. Both long
fixed keel and centreboard versions were built, the boat illustrated being
a fixed keel example.
Like all the cat ketch Freedoms, the 35 is both easy to sail,
and remarkably fast on a reach. With a full-bodied long keel
hull form windward performance is less spectacular, although
quite respectable. The interior is very nicely finished, and
has six berths in three cabins. The carbon fibre unstayed
masts have aluminium wishbone booms which when set are angled
down, needing no kicking strap. Both mainsails have single
line slab reefing, and a mizzen staysail can also be set if
desired.
As the carbon masts were very expensive to build, some later Freedom 35 cat ketches had alloy masts with sail tracks, still unstayed. The carbon masts are
both lighter, and give a better sail set.
In the 1990s a second Freedom 35 design appeared, with design by David Pedrick. Although also called a Freedom 35, this was very different, with a single unstayed mast, small jib and mainsial with conventional boom. The hull of this was a much more modern fin keel design, instead of the long keel of the original Freedoms.
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