I find the baby stay is an essential part for controlling mast pumping and flattening the mainsail especially when racing. I was amazed at how much the mast pumped without the baby stay when going to windward in 15 knots apparent and one to two foot seas. Just lie on the deck and look up the mast and you can easily see how much it moves with corresponding impact on the main sail shape. The baby stay eliminates all that movement so the main sail maintains its shape and flattens it as well. We found it helped boat speed. Yes it requires crew to get the genoa past it when tacking and one more thing to keep track of but isn’t sailing and racing a continuous process of adjustments?
2 cents American John and Maryann Legacy III 1982 C&C 34 Noank, CT
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