Running Backstays Defeated At Last

From day one stowing the leeward running backstay on Kamalii has been a mission - no obvious place to attach it, no system for stowing it, you just had to get a piece of line and lash it out of the way, and it was always highly likely to come free and fly around bashing everything around it. It really is hard to believe that there has never been a proper stowage system for the runners in place before, but if there was then it is long gone.

I have set up a simple double-purchase block system with some cam cleats and snap hooks that make stowing and unstowing the runner waaaaay simpler and quicker. As a bonus, it hardly cost me a thing: When we were in California I was in Minneys used chandlery store and a guy dumped a pile of Schaefer blocks and cam cleats on the bench and told the counter clerk it was a donation and walked out. The bemused clerk turned to me and asked if I wanted them? Yes please! And now they have a useful purpose in life again...

Runner in use...

...and runner stowed.

Now I plan to set up a similar system for the mizzen runners.

(And in case you're wondering "When are they going to paint those bulwarks?", it will be this season, we have just started work on the transom area.)