JOCK, OUR SEAFARING HERO, FROM TIGHNABRUAICH

IMAGINE being in a small boat halfway across the Atlantic to America, ALL ON YOUR OWN, when a
MIGHTY storm blows up.
Then you hear a BANG!
It is your mast breaking, and it falls into the water complete with its sail. Instead of sailing along happily, your boat is suddenly rolling about in the wind and waves.
This is what happened to Jock Hamilton last summer on his boat Freya. Luckily he is a very experienced and resourceful fellow, and brave too.
But he had to decide what to do. He could be rescued, but that was dangerous in rough water, and he would have to make his boat sink and be a wreck. So bravely, he decided to sail home. And he did it all on his own with no help!
With this awful storm blowing he managed to put up another mast, it was only half as high because he made it from the boom which normally runs along the bottom of the big main sail. It took him ages to erect it and he had to make sure it was firm with a lot of wires from its top down to the boat deck.
Then, of course, he needed a suitable sail. He had a special small sail for stormy weather called a tri-sail. So that it would fit he had to put it on upside down! But it worked really well. It is the white one in the picture.
This emergency arrangement is called a JURY RIG.
Later, Jock was able to add a small storm sail, this is the red one in the picture. So with these two sails he was able to sail back home. It is a long way, five hundred miles. It is lucky he does not get sea sick because the boat rolled around and up and down all the time, so much so that he never walked on the deck in case he fell off.
And the wind was in the right direction, and Jock went 109 miles on one of the days! All the way back to where he had set off, Tighnabruaich in the Kyle of Bute, which is near the river Clyde and Glasgow in Scotland.
In the picture, Jock and Freya are arriving home at the jetty where all his friends and family are clapping and cheering. They were so glad to see him back safely. Rascal was there too, but under water. And there is EVA, she is the red buoy in the middle of the picture. She cannot clap, but Rascal pulled on her anchor chain so that she bounced up and down on the water in glee.

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