Given the unplanned wing failure of one of the vertical wings my father now faced the decision what to do instead. Should he use the fallback option of a conventional rig, or should he again look for a different type of setup? Being on a tight budget the options weren’t too many. The answer was as unexpected as appealing, a couple of junk rigs.
For those of you not familiar with what a junk rig is, think of a traditional Chinese sailing vessel from an old Roger Moore James Bond movie and you will know what I mean. The rig is an unsupported mast with one sail leveraging horizontal bars. Again, the idea was to have two junk rigs, one per hull. As with the wing sails, where do you find two junk rigs and sails? You don’t. You join the Junk Rig Association and learn how to build it yourself.
The masts were two flag poles that were tested to hold junk sails of a certain size. I believe they were tested using a tractor tied to the top of the flagpole to pull them down and see that they could maintain a certain load. They passed the test. To construct the sails my father got a sewing machine for sails and used the full living room to sew two big junk sails.
Using the now second set of rigs on S/Y Tossan then departed Norrköping, Sweden, in June 2019. Cruising along the Swedish coastline the boat again got attention from sailors and others alike. If you google “Tossan” I am sure you will find pictures of her with this special rig.
When sailing the full stretch from Norrköping, Sweden, to the closed off inland bay of Lake IJssel in the Netherlands the junk rigs and their junk sails worked but not entirely satisfactory. In terms of speed it was not the best sailing performance but manoeuvrable and working. However, on a gusty day on the inland bay of Lake IJssel one of the flag poles broke and ended up in the water. Thanks to helpful ships nearby the flagpole was dragged out of the water and S/Y Tossan was pulled to a harbor not far away. Back to the same rig situation as last time with the wing sails, one mast broken and the need for something new. Later on S/Y Tossan drove by the electric engines to Lelystad where a welcoming sailing catamaran community opened their arms.
For a second time my father had to decide what to do about a broken mast. This time it was a decision on either giving up his dream and selling S/Y Tossan or finding a suitable rig. After a lot of thinking and late-night discussions the decision fell to keep the dream alive and find a new rig. This time the decision fell on a conventional rig, the rig that S/Y Tossan has today.
Buy into the dream
Are you considering to build your own catamaran? How about more quality time and jumping directly to a life on the ocean? S/Y Tossan is up for sale, and if you are interested please reach out to book a tour or get all your questions answered.