The Freedom 30 grew out of something called the "Freedom Philosophy." Getting its start somewhat significantly in the Bicentennial Year of 1976, this philosophy has several tenets. One of the most arresting is: "They did away with wires on bi-planes half a century ago. Why do we still need stays to keep our sailboat masts flying?"

That philosophy was developed and broadcast by Garry Hoyt, a Finn dinghy racer who was struck, sometime in the mid '70s, with a yen to go cruising. Hoyt found that the boats available to him all entailed unacceptable amounts of effort, complication, and unfulfilled promise. What he wanted was "sailing fast without mazes of stays,…