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Catalina/Capri 25/250 Sailor's Forums

Catalina 250 Specific Forum

Running Baby Stay

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Arlyn Stewart
Master Marine Consultant

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USA
2980 Posts

Initially Posted - 10/31/2007 : 16:19:20

Making a new thread for this so as to help searching later.

I have used the jib halyard as a safety stay to provide redundancy for the headstay when cruising.

The only forestail failures I've heard about resulted from not pinning the forestay turnbuckle, which led to the furler spinning the turnbuckle apart and subsequent dismasting.

What I call a running baby stay however is something different and novel and is probably something only a cruiser would use. It is another Arlyn Stewart creation designed to solve a problem unique to the 250. It is not standing rigging but rather a low stretch line secured at the spreaders and falling to the mast base and terminating to a ring. Made to the ring is bungee that goes thru a mast base turning block and then back to the spreaders. In use, a pendant line from a sheet winch is led forward and thru a stem block and back to the ring. When the pendant is hauled, the baby stay is hauled tight between the spreaders and the stem. When relaxed, the bungee retracts the line to the mast and the pendant lies on the foredeck out of the way of tacking.

The primary purpose is to allow use of a backstay tensioner. If a tensioner is used on the 250 in stock form, the tensioner will only have partial application. When it is hardened, it will firm up the forstay and flatten the jib, but will have the opposite effect upon the main because the forward force on the spreaders is relaxed... making it fuller and more powerful.

The running baby stay holds the center of the mast forward so that it doesn't suffer reverse bend when a backstay tensioner is hardened.

The 250 stock rig is a one tune rig... tight for heavy air. Lighter air performance benefits greatly from powering up a rig, making the sails fuller. The rig has to be loosened to do that. A running baby stay in conjunction with a backstay tensioner, gives on the fly rig tuning choice.

The minor advantage is that it offers some redundancy but that is not a big thing, because as several noted, that can be gained by making the jib halyard to the bow pulpit.

As to the problems associated with using one. It gets in the way of tacking so must be released prior to a tack and then reset after. For this reason, it is likely more of a cruising item as cruisers often lay to the same tack for hours.

I use the same pendant line that is used for the drifter as the baby stay would not be employed simultaneous with the drifter.

Arlyn C-250 W/B #224

N/E Texas and Great Lakes
Arlyn's Sailing Site

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Notice: The advice given on this site is based upon individual or quoted experience, yours may differ.
The Officers, Staff and members of this site only provide information based upon the concept that anyone utilizing this information does so at their own risk and holds harmless all contributors to this site.