I use one on my M17's backstay to release the tension on the forestay, which is necessary when trying to pin the forestay now that I have a CDI furler . . . I should've mentioned this when I was describing changes that had to be made to accomodate the CDI . . . ----- Original Message ----- From: chbenneck@juno.com To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com Sent: Thursday, November 04, 2004 7:25 PM Subject: M-15 Mast raising Hi Rick, Glad to hear that you had such a wonderful sail. M15s are great vessels! But............... you seem to be suffering from the same problem I initially had. If you try and put the pin in the head stay, you have to get enough tension on it so that the holes line up. If you don't; ................then you sweat and strain and get nowhere. ( unless you have the 200 pound gorilla leaning on the mast to give you some slack) My mentor was a gentleman from Alaska who said, "Connie, go to your WEST catalog - and find: ' Quick Release Shroud Levers' - page 486 in my '99 copy of the catalog" These levers allow you to hook up the fore stay - with slack - and then when you tension the lever, you have a tight fore stay. It's a great improvement. Allows you to put the pin in the fore stay - no strain: no pain - and then you flip the lever and you have tension (and the lever is locked in place) Wouldn't be without it! Connie