Jib stay loads (yacht NA)

Jib stay (forestay) loads are the tension a sailing yacht’s headsail rigging transmits through the forestay into the deck and hull structure, one of the governing point loads in yacht structural design. The forestay carries the luff tension of the jib, which under sail and rig pretension can reach a large fraction of the boat’s displacement in force, and that pull must be reacted by a stem fitting, a tie-rod or bulkhead to the hull bottom, and balanced against the backstay and shroud loads in the standing-rig equilibrium. The local structure (stemhead fitting, reinforced laminate or framing) is scaled to the forestay’s working and break loads with scantling-rule safety factors, because a forestay failure can dismast the boat.