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Access Liberty

Liberty photo gallery
Boat Review - Australian Sailing (Feb 2004)

There are currently 64 Liberty being sailed in eleven countries. Twenty percent longer than the 303 but the same width makes the Liberty a very fast and high pointing sailing dinghy. The Liberty is indeed a totally accessible performance craft which anyone can sail, regardless of ability.

The high coamings and wide side decks keep the boat dry even at extreme angles of heel and the two high aspect rudder blades ensure directional stability. We do however recommend the "C" Crane and Keel Caddie for handling Liberty keels which weigh 70Kg.

The Liberty has two rudders because, being a single seater with the sailor possibly strapped in on the centreline, the boat has to be free to heel to extremes and still maintain directional stability. This is achieved as the Liberty heels, the canted leeward rudder digs in and becomes more efficient.

Excerpt Boat Review by Vanessa Dudley, Editor (February 2004) - Courtesy of Australian Sailing

Access all areas - The latest Access Dinghy is designed to suit just about everyone.

"Get Your Bum West Again is the title of a book on Access Dinghy sailing and sailors, published by the Access Dinghy Foundation. During my sail of the new Access Liberty not a single splash came into the cockpit, no matter how hard I tried to lay the boat over on its ear and otherwise test its limits. So I didn't get my bum wet, but I spent a lot of time laughing, enjoying the boat and marveling at its ingenuity.
In designing the Access Dinghies, Chris Mitchell has managed to find practical means to incorporate a series of clever design features.

Unstayed foremast

The Liberty's distinctive look is due to the inclusion of two unstayed masts. "The boat had to be self-tacking, and the jib had to have just one sheet which could be led to a winch," Mitchell explains. "The foremast is unstayed and set up with a strut, which looks like a wishbone but is really only half. The outcome is technically a schooner."

The boat has two rudder blades in moulded cases so it can heel freely and still track straight and stay dry. The cockpit is intentionally narrow, so able-bodied people can't move their weight around for an advantage, and also to support disabled sailors. Mitchell has designed and additional thoracic support for people who can't sit up straight; a moulding which can be easily bolted in.

The topsides are high to prevent the ingress of water when the boat is sharply heeled. Five cubic feet of styrene foam in slabs is glassed in to the hull before the deck is joined, so there's a lot of buoyancy in reserve even if the hull is punctured.

Mitchell's design ingenuity is typified by the electric winches, which he has built using windscreen wiper motors. "The boat had to be simple and inexpensive. Otherwise you end up with a $30,000 boat," Mitchell says.

Easy to sail

The Access Liberty is comfortable and easy to sail in standard joystick controlled mode. The sail controls are right at hand and the boat responds immediately to any commands via the joystick.

In spite of the fact that it has a ballasted centreboard, the boat responds like a lively dinghy to increases in wind pressure. Boat speed picks up and the Liberty heels, just like any dinghy, but it will sit over on its ear and keep on sailing forward, rather than capsizing, if you don't let the sails off in the gusts. Intentionally pushed to its limits, the Liberty still refuses to even contemplate capsizing, takes no water over the leeward coaming and holds its steering remarkably well, thanks to the twin rudders, until ultimately rounding up towards the wind.

So it's a very forgiving boat without sacrificing the exhilaration of small boat sailing. It's simple, safe, fun and surprisingly swift. Running downwind, the jib will happily wing itself out on the windward side without the need for a pole or any special effort by the sailor.

Adding the servo assist system complicates life initially while you try to figure out how to use the control box without letting the sails out when you mean to pull them in, and vice versa, meanwhile swerving wildly around the bay as you come to grips with this new means of steering.

The control box allows you to continue altering course while adjusting the sails. The control toggle is responsive and can be operated using your chin. It's a very clever system which will allow profoundly disabled sailors to pilot their own craft, sail solo and compete on the water."

Download Liberty Class Rules (114 KB)

Design Trivia

Technically the Liberty is not a sloop, but a schooner, and its "jib" is therefore more correctly called a foresail. This is because the definition of a schooner is that it has 2 or more masts and that the foremast is shorter than the mainmast. A sloop has one mast with mainsail and jib which is usually supported on a forestay, not standing on its own mast as on the Liberty. On a schooner the sail behind its foremast is called a foresail, therefore, the Liberty jib should really be called a foresail.

The Liberty was launched in St. Petersburg USA, by Ian Harrison in October 2001.

Specifications

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