The argument for an inner forestay

by Adam Loory, UK-Halsey Sailmakers/Sail-World on 1 Aug 2010 Like the boat pictured here, many cruising boats have a roller furling genoa as our primary headsail.

This is excellent for short handed crews, and the single headsail works well until the wind starts to blow hard and then the combination of too much sail and not enough crew can make things difficult and unpleasant.

Getting rid of the big genoa is usually easy thanks to roller furling but what do you do then? Changing sails on the furling unit is a daunting task when short-handed and sailboats don't power particularly well in a big sea.

The advantages of having the extra forestay then come to the fore:

Set your boat up with an inner forestay and when these conditions arise, roll your big genoa up, set your forestaysail and away you go.

This is easy and safe because sailing under main alone slows your boat and reduces heel so working forward of the mast is not such a chore. Also, since you're working in the middle of the foredeck and not up at the stem, there's much less chance of you or the sail going overboard.

The inner forestay is typically attached to the mast at the upper spreader and, if not attached permanently, lives next to the mast when not in use. It is made fast to its deck fitting and can be tensioned in a variety of ways. Once this is done, the forestaysail can be hanked on, the halyard and sheets attached and all that's left is to hoist and trim the sail.
All these steps can be accomplished quite easily by one person.

A. The sail is relatively small and light so it can be handled without difficulty.
B. Once hanked on, it is completely under control..
C. The boat itself will now sail comfortably and you will be pleasantly surprised at how well it does with this rig.

Although you will feel underpowered, your speedometer will attest to how efficient a set up like this can be. On most points of sail, you'll find yourself going 75-80% of your maximum speed.

The benefits don't end here:
On reaching passages, the forestaysail can be set inside your genoa and can add a 1/4 to 1/2 knot.

In storm conditions, you can lower and secure the forestaysail and set the storm jib on the inner forestay. This, however, is NOT preferable to having a completely separate track for the storm jib.

The combination of forestay and running backstays (the use of runners to oppose the inner forestay is recommended, particularly offshore) greatly increases the stability of your mast.

Having the inner forestay permanently there is another solution for cruising yachts, using roller furling for the staysail as well. The only disadvantage of this is that when the main headsail is tacked it must be dragged around the front of the headsail and chafing can occur. The use of a yankee in combination with a staysail is a part solution to this.

For more information about UK-Halsey Sailmakers, go to their www.ukhalsey.com!website.