In article ,
"Harbin Osteen" wrote:

I remember when the Freedom 40 first came out with a free standing
cat, ketch setup, and in a article I read, it said that it was fairly
fast, but I think that it said that it did not sail as close wind as
a standard rig. Is that because of the jib? If so, does anybody think
that some kind of pivoting "slot" at the leading edge could work? I'm
thinking of a slot sail maybe 6 to 8 feet wide.

No ketch will be really close-winded compared to a good sloop, but the
Freedom does pretty well.

Years ago, our dinghy sailing club had a free-for-all fun race, all
fleets starting at the same time. I was astounded that all of the Lasers
--cat rigged-- outpointed the best of all the other fleets.

Since, I've realized that it's more efficient to have a single tall sail
than multiple smaller sails. BUT, that doesn't give as easy flexibility
in varying winds, so people build and buy sloops and ketches and cutters
and such.

If you like the boat, buy it. Don't second-guess the pretty good naval
engineer that did the original work. That said, I believe they went to a
more standard rig later.

The Freedom is another good boat for that guy looking for a boat for his
older father, BTW.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-a-Deux ('73 Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD)
Xan's Pages: http://members.dca.net/jerelull/X-Main.html
Our BVI FAQs (290+ pics) http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/