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All of that being said, putting 6 hundred pounds of tension on my main fore stay (the one that runs from the main mast, to the fore mast) causes my mast to bow...I have read that I should tension back stays to off set this, but my back stays are tensioned with a block and tackle (pull!! pull!!!) and I can't really rely on hauling it in too tight between tacks. I have aft diags, which I intend to tension more than they are (currently at about 400lbs of tension, I was understanding I should probably put them at about 600lbs of tension at least) but I don't foresee that offsetting it too much. The bowing is at the point - in the top third of the mast - where the main forestay comes forward.
Now there is another thing, I have a "cross shroud" I think it's called, a piece of standing rigging running between the masts....it's slack. Like, really slack, basically drooping between the two. I wanted to haul my jib forward stay in to bring the forward mast forward a bit (it's leaning back a bit now anyway, from the back stay tension on my strong backs) which would take up some of the slack, but I can't seem to get more than maybe 150 or 200lbs worth of tension in it. I climbed up there (by myself, kind of a scary thing to do, next time I'm going to borrow a neighbor) and I found the turnbuckle is burried into the shroud there as well...
I pet my boat on the head top the foremast, and whole heartedly promised her that if she gets me through this trip in a timely fashion I'll buy her new rigging next year. Just then, a wake came over her bow. I don't know if she was accepting the offer or not, I guess I'll have to wait and see...
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