The Far Reach has a headstay and a forestay.  Until recently, the forestay was dyneema with a spliced bronze eye connected to a bronze turnbuckle.  It was difficult to disconnect the forestay and pull it back out of the way to make short tacking easier.

Cutter rigged boats like the Far Reach have a headstay and a forestay. The forestay is sometimes referred to as the inner-stay but it is correctly called the forestay as it supports the fore stays’l.

A challenge for cutter rigged boats is tacking with both stays rigged. If the slot between the two stays is narrow, and sometimes even if it is not particularly narrow, the jib can get “hung up” on the forestay as it passes through the slot from one tack to the other.  When short-tacking (tacking a number of times in rapid succession) up a narrow channel you can get into trouble if your jib fails to pass through the slot between the stays.  Occasional tacks should not  be a concern and every sailor should be able to tack their cutter reliably with only the occasional hiccup.

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