When the bowsprit has been run in to the required distance it is kept in its place by the fid , an iron bolt which passes through the bowsprit and the bits. It is essential that a bowsprit run in easily without jamming, so the gammon iron should be made large, and the fid should be a stout one, else the pressure of the bowsprit will soon bend it, and it will be impossible to draw it out. When the bowsprit is reefed, the bobstay and the bowsprit shrouds have also to be shortened and tautened up with the tackle attached to them. The tack of the jib hooks on to an iron traveller on the bowsprit which is hauled out to the required distance with the jib outhaul . The lee runner must be always slacked out, so that the boom can run out sufficiently far.
Small yachts are often over blocked.
A gun-tackle purchase is also generally used for the jib halyards and fore halyards of a cutter under ten tons. The tack tricing line serves to trice up or draw up the tack of the mainsail and so considerably reduce its size in a squall. It is convenient also to be able to trice up the tack so as to see ahead better while sailing into a crowded harbour. Where the sail is small, the tack tricing line is fastened on to the tack of the sail, passes through a single block on the gaff close to the jaws, and thence leads to the deck. Where the sail is large, a gun-tackle purchase is used.