On a sailing vessel, a forestay is a piece of standing rigging which keeps a mast from falling backwards. It is attached either at the very top of the mast, or in fractional rigs between about 1/8 and 1/4 from the top of the mast. The other end of the forestay is attached to the bow of the boat. Wooden sailing boat Sailing is motion across a body of water in a sailing ship, or smaller boat, powered by wind. ... On a sailing boat, the standing rigging is that collection of lines which are fixed. ... A mast is a pole which holds a sail of a boat, see mast (sailing). ... A boat is a watercraft, usually smaller than most ships. ...
Often a sail is attached to the forestay. One such sail is a jib or a genoa. In a cutter rig, the jib or jibs are flown from stays in front of the forestay, perhaps going from the masthead to the end of the bowsprit. The sail on the forestay is then referred to as the staysail or stays'l. A sail is a surface intended to generate thrust by being placed in a wind; basically it is a vertically oriented wing. ... See also: Jib (television) A jib is a triangular staysail set ahead of the foremost mast of a sailing boat. ... Genoa is primarily used to refer to Genoa (Genova in Italian Language), a city and port in Liguria, Italy. ... For other meanings, see cutter (baseball), cutter (tool) and self-harm. ... Bowsprit of the Falls of Clyde, showing the dolphin striker, the use of chain for the bobstays, and three furled jibs. ... A staysail is a fore-and-aft rigged sail whose luff is affixed to a stay running forward (and most often but not always downwards) from a mast to the deck, the bowsprit or to another mast. ...
A forestay might be made from stainless steel wire on a modern yacht or solid stainless steel rod or carbon rod and galvanised wire or natural fibers on an older cutter or square-rigged ship.
Contrast with backstay and shrouds. On a sailing vessel, a backstay is a piece of standing rigging which keeps a mast from falling forewards. ... On a sailboat, the shrouds are pieces of standing rigging which hold the mast up from side to side. ...
The key to the problem of tuning this type rig is adequate forestay tension and the whole tuning process must be based on a ruthless approach to the matter.
Forestay tension is transmitted directly to the upper shrouds which, via the spreaders, push the mast forward.
However, because the angle between the forestay and the upper shrouds is small in comparison to the angle between the forestay and backstay on a masthead rig, it is necessary to carry considerably greater rig tension in a fractional rig to achieve a comparably straight forestay.