![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1f/Martingale_dolphinStiker_bobstay.png/220px-Martingale_dolphinStiker_bobstay.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/HMS_Victory_-_bows.jpg/220px-HMS_Victory_-_bows.jpg)
A bobstay is a part of the rigging of a sailing boat or ship. Its purpose is to counteract the upward tension on the bowsprit from the jibs and forestay. A bobstay may run directly from the stem to the bowsprit,[1] or it may run to a dolphin striker, a spar projecting downward, which is then held to the bowsprit or jibboom by a martingale stay.
See also
- Bill Bobstay is a character in the operetta H.M.S. Pinafore (1878) by Gilbert and Sullivan.
- Bobstay was a 1977 detonation in the United States' Operation Cresset nuclear test series.
References
The dictionary definition of bobstay at Wiktionary
- ^ Bowsprits Archived 2015-03-30 at the Wayback Machine, Classic Marine