Adding an inner stay for a staysail on the bowsprit

[Ian McColgin]

That is a rather long bow sprit. Goblin (an Alden 43') had a stick that long but about 7' stuck through the cranse and out. The foremast was about 10' back from the bow so there was an acceptable space between for the jibs to be tacked. I had two jibs that set up on Merriman roller furling - rope-pull spool at bottom, swivel at the top, separate thick luff wire. So the unit was easily rolled up. Either jib was hoisted or struck rolled up so it was like a snake. Actually quite nice and sounds like you have that.

The larger jib was a nudge over 100% total fore triangle and was a pain to tack past the forestaysail stay without partly rolling it up. The little jib with a clew that overlapped the forestaysail by a foot or so, tacked easily and in all but the lightest winds was a better sail, mainly as it was not so blown out as the big jib.

So, your rig has a proportionately longer sprit sticking out there. Does that mean that the fore mast is way up in the bow, making tacking a forestaysail to the stem impossible? Are you planning a forestaysail on some sort of merriman type furler or are you looking to dance a little way out the sprit to hank it on?

I lean towards finding a good sailmaker-rigger who can look at your measurements and engineer a correct solution.

But I also really think you should try sailing in a high wind with just the foresail. It's normal schooner stuff and you could be surprised at how well she can do.

G'luck