Tony C 1

We kept a photo record of our journey and would love to help others reach their dream. One of the things that kept us going was spending the odd day with Kerry and Sheila on “Therapy”. Going for a day out on the water helped motivate and keep us on track.

I know how important that was to us and we are happy to do likewise for any other 11.6 builders needing a motivational day on the water on “freedom”.

Our easy experience started in October 2003.
We had been looking to buy a cat and after searching up and down the coast we could find nothing that suited our needs. A search of the internet turned up Peters designs and a time to meet with Peter and Anne was arranged.

After a visit to the coast and a meeting with the guys aboard “Take it easy” we instantly fell in love with the design and huge amount or room inside.

Four days later we returned to Hervey Bay (Queensland Australia) with a set of plans and a dream that would see our boat launched within five years.

Within weeks we had ordered the timber for the hulls and I worked throughout the Christmas break and by the end of March we had two fine looking hulls sitting upside down in our front yard.

The neighbours were convinced I was building two identical submarines and I did nothing to quell this rumor. During the spare hours of an evening after work I built the bridge deck in the shed and by Easter we had turned the hulls over and joined them.

There is not enough room here to go into too much detail about what transpired over the next 18 months but suffice to say I continued to work full time and worked on the boat every weekend and spare hour I could find. I found the project a wonderful experience and loved the journey of building “freedom” almost as much as sailing her.

Suffice to say that we launched her in December 2005 completed apart from a little stain work on the cupboards. We built the boat in just under two years part time and found this quite achievable although it is a lot of hard work.

To say it was always easy and plain sailing would be untrue but the teamwork and excitement when we reached each milestone far out weighs any frustrations. At times we laughed and at other times cried. My wife still wont talk about the day we glassed the hulls and it remains a sore point between us.

It is also important to say that there is no other feeling in the world like standing on the bow, in a good breeze, with the boat sailing along at 9 knots, perfectly balanced, knowing that she could take you anywhere in the world and knowing you made it happen.