Hi! I sailed a 2 masted schooner that had a main topsail, and we tacked it from the deck. We set free the tack line which had been made off to a pin on the boom, then we'd haul up the tack with a tack brail. Once the boom had swung underneath and the was on the other tack we'd let go the brails and haul down the tack. If the wind was too bad (or the sailor wasn't careful) something would get stuck on the spreader. If that happened, we could possibly fix it by coming into the wind and loosening the sheet, but more often than not we'd send someone aloft to fix it. I don't know how common the brails are, or if your ship design accounts for them, but I thought I'd chip in.
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How to rig both stay sails and top sails on fore-and-aft schooner
