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We have a Freedom 21 with twin drop keels. It's been in our drive being refurbished since we purchased it in October, as previously it had been sat on a boat yard for 18 years. I was planning to launch it at Milford Haven in April but Welsh travel restrictions were not lifted until late July. But after a long wait, it's now in the water and we have had it out for a couple of trips up and down the waterway. The first in 8-10knts, photos attached, was in gentle introduction to how she handled. The second time was a bit more fun, as we had 14 kits gusting 18 at times with a full main and small jib. I was surprised at how well behaved she was as I was expecting her to be a lot more tender. Have not flown the spinnaker yet, as the first time out we had some rigging issues and the second time a wind swing over lunch time at Dale meant we were on the wind both up and back.

Smart looking red dodger. I like it.

Yes, the old one was a bit moth-eaten, I got my local sailmaker to make one up from the taters of the old one. The only downside is the main sheet. I have to bring it down through a fixed block on the cabin roof, which means I have to adjust the sheet between tacks, unless I keep the traveller dead centre.

Wow! That really looks good. Would you care to nip up North and re-furbish mine, too?

We have no sprayhood, but only used it for brief day sails in Spain, so that was no problem. The cockpit cover, which disintegrated, is a miss, though.

Enjoy your sailing.

Gerald

Not my first sail, but put together of a video of a recent outing in Milford Haven. Fabulous sunny September day with around 15knts of wind but quite variable. We had a long beat up against wind and tide followed by a much swifter run back down to the Marina. Recorded 6.5knts on a reach but unfortunately both iphone and fixed sports cam battery gave up before we raised the Spinnaker. Suspect we were doing more on the run. Anyway here is a link to the video if anyone is interested.

Click here

Looks like a good day. Thanks

Looks like fun! I really like the dodger! I don't know how you rigged the mainsheet, but I am thinking of bringing the tail forward to the mast and then back to the cockpit. When singlehanding, it is hard to adjust when under a lot of load or with the traveler eased down or, in your case, with the dodger up. I love how sneaky-fast the F21 is off the wind! Not a sportboat on the edge, just quietly going faster than you might expect for a 21.

Hi chadrider,

yes with the dodger there is a problem with the main sheet. My first solution was to take the main sheet forward and turned back on the starboard side about mid saloon roof. This was OK but port and starboard tack required easing and tightening the sheet, not ideal. This sail I moved the block up to the kicker fixing on the boom, then back to the starboard side. This was much better but not ideal, only a slight adjustment needed but ignored on my frequent tacks, however it catches on the cutout in the doger. I could not do it with the current sheet length but my final solution will be main sheet forward from lower fiddle block up to lazy jack mount forward, then down to the mid saloon deck and back through the dodger cutout to a jammer on the deck. It does not need to go right to the mast and I am averse to drilling more holes win the mast. The boom pad eye for the Ladyjacks is plenty strong enough and far enough forward to have negligible difference on sheet length when tacking.

Here is a clip from the video that shows the intermediate solution.

Managed to get my F21 anti-fouled and in the water over Easter and got in a couple of days sailing in Milford Haven. I was surprised that, on the second outing, we managed to overhaul two much larger boats on a reach on our way to Dale. one was a ketch sailing jib and jigger, so not fully rigged. However the other was a Halberg Rassey, I think a 35 that did not seem to be reefed. We had a full main and blade jib, wind speed was around 15knts give or take. The ketch tied up opposite us on the pontoon in Dale and the skipper said he was very impressed with our performance, said he almost hoisted his main to give chase. I think the HR was just being sailed badly.

Anyway here is a short vid of our sailing over easter: https://share.icloud.com/photos/04bPQqQ ... tj0NnM9uUg

If anyone is interested, there are some more F21 videos on my Vimeo account: https://vimeo.com/user12079325