Jennifer,
While I was commissioning my Ericson Olson 911S, I consulted with Carl Schumacher on placement of gear and later out on a tuning sail. The check stays are primarily to prevent 'pumping' of the mast (fore-aft bowing of the bendy mast) when you have the backstay cranked and there are waves that cause pumping action to occur. I forget the exact attachment point on the mast, but I think they were a foot or two above the spreaders (can't look...don't own the boat any more) and they came back to attachment points on deck near the pushpit. I would attach my checkstays via snap shackles to the toerail near the forward part of the pushpit for crew accessibility for adjustment when tacking. With snap schackles we could bring them forward to the mast when 'just cruisin' or running to get them out of the way. You set the windward checkstay when going to windward, leaving the leeward one somewhat slack to not interfere with the boom.
--Wilton Received on Tue Mar 25 11:28:54 2003