What did you do for your 11th birthday? This Duxbury boy did 'something epic'

DUXBURY – A boy from Duxbury is making a name for himself in the local sailing world, and he doesn’t plan to trim his sails anytime soon.

While 11-year-old Briggs Kossmann’s dad, Kurt Kossmann, has a hefty dose of sailing experience, he said his son’s new passion for sailing came without prompting.

“He went out and happily surprised us,” Kurt Kossmann said. “We expected he'd do all right because he has good dexterity and is good at all types of sports, but he was just phenomenal."

In just a short time, Briggs has gone from a kid curious about sailing to an award-winning regatta racer who gained attention recently for making a solo round trip between Falmouth and Vineyard Haven on Martha's Vineyard.

“It was really fun when I jumped in (to sailing) because I was independent. I could make my own decisions. I could go wherever I wanted,” Briggs said.

Briggs is a fast learner and a winner

Briggs wanted to sign up for a sailing course through the Duxbury Bay Maritime School in the summer of 2022, but it was already full. He enrolled in a kayaking camp instead.

A couple of days before that camp started, an opening came up for a pram class. Prams are small, lightweight, flat-bottomed vessels with a broad transom.

Briggs’ mom, Sarah Kossmann, said the prams are a beginner version of Opti boats, to which Briggs quickly graduated.

“He loved the sailing immediately, and we ended up acquiring an Opti sailboat from a friend of a friend that he sailed around Duxbury Bay at the end of the summer in 2022,” she said.

He did not sail again until this past February, when the family was in Florida for what became an extended stay into late spring to support Briggs’ newfound love.

“He competed in three regattas and gained a tremendous amount of experience from some great coaches,” Sarah Kossmann said.

When the family returned to Duxbury, Briggs spent the rest of the summer learning and racing at the school.

“He was there about two weeks when the race team saw him and grabbed him immediately,” Kurt said.

Since then, Briggs has competed in a dozen regattas, most of them lasting hours each day – with some stretching over two or three days. He has placed in the top three in nearly all of them and has multiple wins to his credit.

Kurt said his son’s newfound interest has brought the entire family back on the water, including Briggs’ older brother, Eli, 12, who has special needs.

“He's a super-good kid,” Kurt said of Eli. “He’s always cheering his brother on.”

How Briggs got his name

Kurt Kossmann grew up with the same adventurous spirit as his son, at one point racing cars in his 20s. He considered making a career of it.

A fellow driver, Briggs Phillips, crashed in front of him, and Kurt helped rescue him. The name stuck in his head.

Briggs is also named after the better-known Briggs Cunningham, who rose to fame as both a sports car racer and an innovator and America’s Cup winner.

Kurt and Sarah had not settled on a name but found themselves having to pick one quickly when Sarah went into labor five weeks early.

"The name 'Briggs' came into my head, and we knew in 10 seconds that would be his name," Kurt said.

‘I wanted to do something epic'

Briggs and his parents said some of the regattas in which he has participated had high winds and surf, a challenge for any sailor, but especially so for someone Briggs’ age and size.

“He’s around 60 pounds, which is a big disadvantage except when there’s no wind at all,” Kurt said, noting that most people sailing an Opti are at least 20 pounds heavier.

With his 11th birthday looming at the end of September, Briggs said he wanted to do something challenging and fun, and that's when he came up with the idea of the solo sail.

"I wanted to do something epic for my birthday," he said.

After ruling out Provincetown as a destination due to the length of the trip, he decided to go from Falmouth to Martha’s Vineyard, about 7 miles.

His parents, who trailed him, trusted their son’s skills enough to greenlight the trip.

Weather and scheduling issues delayed the outing past his birthday, and it wasn't until 24 hours before they were on the water Sept. 20 that his mom felt the conditions were right to give it a go.

“The day I did, it was perfect,” Briggs said. “It was blowing 10 to 15 knots, so it was just the right amount of wind.”

His parents and Eli stayed far enough away so Briggs was calling the shots, but they were close enough with communication and safety equipment to intervene if needed.

Briggs' previous regatta experience came in handy as he crossed the wakes of three ferries.

“I’ve made that same crossing in power boats numerous times,” Kurt Kossmann said. “The size of those ferries makes you feel small and insignificant by comparison.”

The original plan was for Briggs to sail one way and then load his Opti on the family’s boat for the ride back, but he ended up making a round trip.

Before they headed back, however, they were introduced to Robert Douglas, 91-year-old owner of The Black Dog tavern in Vineyard Haven, who approached the family covered in woodchips from a boat on which he was working.

“He’s a really cool guy,” Briggs said.

Sailing and socializing

When Briggs and his family returned home, they discovered a CBS reporter was looking to interview Briggs for a piece that aired soon after.

The attention is fun, Briggs said, but he said the social aspect of sailing is just as important as being on the water.

Briggs, who is homeschooled, said sailing has allowed him to develop many friendships, as evidenced by the number of kids calling out and saying hi to Briggs as they came up the maritime school steps.

“I’ve made a lot of friends doing this,” he said. “I can’t even count how many."

He has since taken part in the "Kidnuz" podcast, a daily newscast for kids that includes seven minutes of timely and age-appropriate stories from politics, entertainment, science, health and sports. Briggs is also working on building his Instagram sailing account, @sailbriggs.

"It's been crazy," he said.

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Briggs Kossmann learns craft quickly at Duxbury Bay Maritime School