My mast raising and forestay tensioning worked out

[cruiserpete]

My mast raising and forestay tensioning system worked out.. after this weekend "first sail" debacle...at least I learnt how to correctly raise and lower my mast

Hi, all,

I've worked out why my forestay has a swagged eyelet on it. After reading some fantastic articles by the "Moreton Investigator Association" I've discovered that the forestay has a swagged eyelet on it to help with mast raising and forestay tensioning.
In the Moreton Investigator Association's "commissioning and rigging - report No 1, rigging, section a" there is mention:

Quote "The mast can then be raised by one person pulling on the forestay and another pushing up from astern. A better way: use a handy-billy, which is a block permanently shackled to the spare hole in the fore-peak fit­ting and a line snap shackled to the thimble thoughtfully swagea to the fore­stay for just this purpose. As the mast is lifted from astern, the handy­billy line is used to haul it up. This line gives sufficient purchase to fix the forestay with considerable tension to the forepeak fitting. (Without this
tension, the jib will fall away badly, spoiling the boat's ability to point)."

Here's a photo with raising and tensioning connections mentioned above pointed out...