Like many others, I started sailing dinghies as a child and progressed through day sailing catamarans to offshore sailing. As the boats grew larger, the shortcomings of a standard stayed rig and the crew needed to operate them became ever more obvious.
Struggling in the dark to get a spinnaker down that had wrapped around the forestay, or reefing the main while running before a gale with the sail pressed up against the shrouds, I was convinced there must be a better, safer way.
These tasks are all possible on a standard rig but they are hard work.
What was needed was an unstayed rig that rotated. You could then get the wind pressure out of the mainsail on any point of sail and there would be no rigging to chafe the sails. The first FreeWing rig was built in 1979. Fitted to a 54ft cruising yacht, it now has a tremendous sailing record. FreeWing rig yachts have made multiple crossings of the Atlantic, both north and south, including a number of passages through the "Roaring Forties".

Richard Glanville