Have you ever seen a sailboat with wings? I hadn’t, until I saw S/Y Tossan in Norrköping, Sweden, in the fall of 2017.
My father wanted to create a sailboat as easy to sail, and so comfortable to operate as possible. A traditional rig was therefore not the first option. Inspired by the Associate Professor at University of California, Gabriel Hugh Elkaim (Atlantis project, publications), the ambition was to build a wind-propelled marine vehicle. Doing his research my father designed a vertical wing that can rotate around its own axis. Using a rope you’d be able to lock the wing in a certain angle against the wind so that it would create a sail-like drag, much like a wing on an airplane or for that matter a modern racing sailboat. An additional rope would control the extra wing to trim the setting and position of the wind for optimal performance.
Going for two wings
For a catamaran however you could have not only one but two wings. One wing per hull. This would increase the sail area while allowing smaller wings rather than an enormous wing at a central location. Also, this would allow a free and open deck with no extra wires, all but the space occupied by the wing and the deck area for its movement.
Said and done, this was the solution chosen for S/Y Tossan. But where do you get wings like this? You have to build them. The Kurt Hughes design was altered to fit two standing wings instead of the traditional centered mast, including reinforcements to ensure stability. Corresponding to 100 sqm of conventional rig and sails the wings were designed as two 25 sqm (13 x 1,80 meters each) self-standing wings. The wings were connected to the boat, one in each hull, by a span of 2 meters between the bottom of the wing mast and the deck.
In the boatyard and the garage of the house the wings slowly were formed in light-weight but strong materials to ensure they were up for the task.
S/Y Tossan was put in the water for the first time in October, 2017 equipped with two vertical wings. Like no, or at least very few, boats before her she was equipped with two wings. This made quite a scene in the local community and many people walking by wondered what this strange looking vessel was. S/Y Tossan quickly became a topic for discussion and interest. Curious members of the community stopped by to have a peak and discuss the pros and cons with the remarkable setup.
During the fall of 2017 some test sailing took place with expected performance. In normal winds the wings followed the wind nicely in the neutral gear, however in very gusty winds with strong shifting directions the servo wings had a hard time keeping up so that the main wings weren’t too stressed. In these conditions the wings were very stressed, both from a mechanical point of view as well as noise, but coped with the load. With this level of stress and noice it wasn’t possible to live aboard, something that defeated the purpose of the whole boat.
However, the concept of the vertical wings didn’t end in success. In an autumn storm with gusts of up to 28 m/s one of the wings broke and had to be dismounted. Looking at the calendar time was running out if the planned departure date was to be kept. Facing the decision of figuring out what had gone wrong, updating the construction, and building a new pair of wings, or finding a different setup with a more traditional rig my father concluded that a new and different rig was to be created. He later figured out the design error, having a temporary connection of the servo wings in neutral mode which broke in the strong winds, and led to the wing not handling with the wind as expected. The second wing was intact and worked well. Despite this my father never really looked back.
S/Y Tossan remained the ship of his dreams and before departure, although almost a year later than planned, had a new set of rigs. But more on this later.
Unforeseen challenges when building a boat, or skip to quality time?
Are you considering to build your own catamaran? Have you decided on the rig you want? Reading this blog you may face unforeseen challenges when building your own boat. 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.