rigging Elsie bowsprit

[Maggie]

Hi,

 

I am currently building the schooner Elsie and need help with the bowsprit rigging.  There are battens on either side of the sprit. Do the stirrups for the foot ropes go underneath these battens?  Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks,

 

Maggie

[JerseyCity Frankie]

No stirrups on footropes is my guess, I believe the footropes would run from the hull out to the Cap Iron and be otherwise unsupported. I did find a drawing in Howard Chapelle's American an Fishing Schooners showing Sail Stops hanging vertically from the bowsprit and I have not seen your documentation but I can very easily believe you could be seeing Sail Stops and thinking they are Stirups hanging down. Sails Stops DO GO UNDER THE battens as shown in the diagram. They are simple bits of line attached only on one end and when the sails are set they just dangle under the bowsprit in pairs. They are used to secure the sail when the sails are furled, each leg is just long enough to go up and over the furled sail with enough extra with which to tie a reef knot.