Freedom is the last Twelve designed by Olin Stephens with the cooperation of Bill Langan; her hull lines are inspired by the ones of Enterprise while a great work has been done to reduce the pitch and the windage of the hull with a very reduced freebord. "Budgetary restrictions on model testing greatly affected Freedom's design program, with the result that she basically emerged from the office as a modified Courageous. Her freebord was cut down slightly lowering her center of gravity while giving up a little sail area. The leading edge of the keel was also snubbed on the model. Bill Langhan and Olin Stephens, working together on the design, hoped that these modifications would be compatible with Dennis Connor's aggressive sailing style, which seemed very likely to involve a lot of tacking. They felt that this would reduce separated flow and improve acceleration following a tack, and it seemed to work..." . Freedom was skippered by Dennis Conner and dominated the Defender Trials on Clipper and Courageous. In the America's Cup Match she beats Australia four to one. In 1980 she wins the Chandler Hovey Gold Bowl.