Running rigging/mast questions

[rypper]

Hi everyone -

I'm a brand new owner of a 1972 Macgregor Venture 222. I'm not planning on dumping a ton of money into this boat, since it's my first one and I'm brand spanking new to sailing, but I have been putting some elbow grease into cleaning it and getting it ready for the water.

I was able to step the mast and figured out the standing rigging just fine, but I'm really confused about the running rigging and am hoping you guys can help me out. Please forgive me if I get the vocabulary wrong - I'm still learning, but the mast has 4 lines attached to it and I'm trying to decipher what's what.

So far, I know one line is the mainsail halyard,and one is the jib halyard (on a block on the bow side of the mast), but there are two more lines that run to blocks on the top of the mast that I can't figure out what they would be used for. One of the lines is on the bow side of the mast, the other three are on the stern side...

Does anyone have any idea what that third and fourth line is called or what they would be used for?

Thanks in advance!

[Russ]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new boat. New captain has to buy pizza for the group. I like extra cheese.

Some photos might help.

Since you got the main/jib halyards figured out, the other two I'm going to guess are a spinnaker halyard and a back stay.
Backstay would be thinner as it doesn't carry much load.

Did the boat come with a spinaker?

[JohnnyP]

As noted, photos would help. If I were to take a best guess, I'd say those extra lines could be downhauls, for both the head and main. A downhaul allows one to quickly, and with great control, drop cloth when things get spicy. Another guess, at least for the aftmost line, would be for a topping lift which would attach to the rear of the boom. Topping lift serves two main purposes: primarily, as a means of preventing the boom from crashing down into the cockpit when reefing or letting out the main halyard; secondly to raise the boom out of the way at an anchorage to provide a bit more headroom.

Is there any sort of hardware attached to either line? That would also be a good indicator of their purpose.

[rypper]

Thanks for the replies! Hopefully you guys will settle for air-flavored pizza...

I will post pictures as soon as I can. After looking at the mast head, one of the blocks is actually attached to where the backstay is attached to the mast, so it makes a lot of sense for that to be a topping lift in my mind.

The boat did not come with a spinnaker sail, but there was a spinnaker pole stowed in the cabin. Is it safe to assume a spinnaker halyard would be located on the bow side of the mast? On this boat, there is only one halyard on the bow-side of the mast.

The mainsail halyard is pretty obvious because of the connector on the end, thankfully. Again, as soon as I can get some pictures on here I will.

I'll look into the downhaul info- thanks! That just might be what it is.

The original owner of this boat apparently made a lot of modifications, which the owner I bought it from had undone, so there's a lot that I'm starting to think was customized.

I'm learning that's a thing a lot of sailors will do to their boats...

[Freedom77]

Pics would be helpful. A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour endless amount of money