hi,
i am looking at a adams tasman 26 ft with fractional rig and it has running backstays. how painfull are they to use and adjust as i believe they have to be released on every tack otherwise the main gets caught.
any thoughts.

If you can replace the runners with a single dyneema you don't have to worry about it. This will likely be a tiny

If it's the one for 3K on boatsales the backstay will be a long way down your list of problems.

I have an old half tonner with running backstays, you are correct that they need to be adjusted on each tack/gybe. They add additional complexity to the sailing but once you're used to it they aren't too painful unless you're operating in a narrow channel. Upwind should be less of a worry as the mainsheet and vang help keep everything stable, on a run you need to be a alot more mindful of the boom in an accidental gybe.

The comment from JonE is a bit broad, if the fractional rig is inline spreaders they play a more significant role in keeping the mast in the boat even with a mast head backstay.

yes they are in line....suposedly the adjustable backstay is still connected so it has 3 backstays but what i am amazed at is the fact that the running backstays are connected onto the deck by attaching to the little aluminiun rail (running all around the deck that has holes in it to remove water,),dont know what this is called but they are only screwed into the deck by small screws,,,,i cant believe that is correct,, i would have thought it would be conected to something a bit more sturdy like some type of tang screwed into the transom/back of boat...
this boat was obviouly changed to be more of a racer thus the running backstay

ps the adjustable backstay is connected to the top of the mast which makes sense.

For a fractional rig if the spreaders are in-line the running backstays to the hounds are certainly needed as well as the backstay - they all would have been designed and fabricated that way from day 1. We bought a 9.3m racer/cruiser in 2016 with spindly Baverstock mast, swept back 2 spreader pairs plus hounds jumpers for masthead kites, large roach main and twin runners to hounds and twin backstays to masthead. See photos. We well knew they would be a right pain operating in narrow channels and they were far worse than that - we upgraded the mast 5 years ago to a sublime All Yacht Spars section and did away with the runners and changed to one dyneema backstay and masthead wand. Perfect. So to conclude I wouldn't touch a fractional rig Tasman 26 with in-line spreaders and runners unless you will always sail with at least 4 experienced persons, with one dedicated to the runners all day and not miss a tack or gybe. There are plenty of masthead rig T26 around.
The "little aluminium rail" is called a toerail and they are normally bolted to the deck as best practice. As you say the runners and backstay need to be secured to a pair of suitable scantling flatbar stainless tangs and fastener components bolted through the transom assuming the latter is ply glassed each side.

from my understanding these tasman 26 were mast rigged with no running backstay,, so a diy job by the looks of it....for racing...i am pretty sure i could remove these backstays and leave the original adjustable one....maybe the previous owners thought it to be a good idea aswell to keep it just in case....i had a look at a triton 721 and it too had inline spreaders with 1 backstay,,putting a lot of faith in just 1 line... i wonder if its possible to run 2 shrouds aft of the mast on either side attached to where the spreaders start,, are these called baby stays?

I don't understand 'why the runners are so important on this rig unless you're running a big masthead kite off the wind in a blow.

r13 clearly has no choice because his main has a massive roach.

Look at the photos of these Tasman 26's. The stern is so narrow that there would be about 2 foot max between the tangs for the backstay so basically no lateral support at all. As opposed to my boat, or yours r13, or any post-IMS which has about 6 foot between the backstay fittings.

The only reason I'm saying this is because OP seems like he just wants a cheap boat to go sailing on (Thierry, correct me if I'm wrong), and is novice enough to be asking questions about it. In the scheme of things the fact that it has some silly runners attached to the toe-rail is probably not the number 1, 2 or 3 reason to run away from the boat. Thoughts?

Runners are not supposed to give lateral support at all - in fact in pure structural terms they should run to the centreline aft as otherwise they twist the mast when in use. Moving them out to the rail allows the mast to twist slightly but means that you can still ease the mainsheet a bit without making sure that there is absolutely nothing stopping the lee runner from preventing the sheet from easing.

If the T26 has in-line spreaders it may be a simple case of being in a situation where one mistake with the runners (ie not having at least one on at all times when gybing downwind) could break the mast. Note that's a "could" - it gets down to the individual boat.

The way you sail is also important. Some boats can be reefed down so that the mainsail head is over the runners and therefore both runners can be left tightened. And many boats that need runners to be in place in a 25kt knot gust from the stern when the boat is hitting head seas, can sail around happily without runners in 15 knots.

If the toe rail is just self tappers it may be a problem to take the runners there, if the rail is through bolted it's probably fine on a 26'er.

While I liked the T26's rig when I mentioned it in an earlier post, if you don't have the experience to assess how dependent the individual boat is on the support of the runners it may be better to look elsewhere. Even things like the tension on the shrouds and the firmness of the mast step and the supports where the mast passes through the deck affects how much fore-and-aft support the mast has.

If you really like the boat then get a quote on fitting forward-angled jumper struts. Boats of similar weight, like Thunderbirds, have in-line shrouds and no runners because the jumper transmits the force of the standing backstay further down the mast without allowing the mast to bend too much. That stops the situation where the runners are not on, the masthead backstay holds the tip of the mast aft, and the mast just over-bends until it snap. See the little upper rigging bits at

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I got to do runners on this boat "Raging Bull" and on a windy day I needed to be on my game, after my first jammed runner - you learn fast when the boats on its side!
An Auckland Wednesday Racer with a lot of sail area it turned heads downwind planning
We were all windsurfers that sailed on it and even had Olympian's as crew on the odd occasion.

The next boat designed by Greg Young was a 7m production boat without runners and a lot less stress to sail.
They both had pivoting bowsprits that were easy to use - it ruined my future spinnaker crew work changing poles!

Sometimes they can be a pain in the posterior, but even singlehanding my 1/4 tonner it's not too bad.
I have coarse & fine tune on my runners with a marked position for the coarse so that I only have to dump the fine tune in the tack & there is enough slack for gusts & ducking other boats.
Currently re-jigging the fine tune after going from a cascade to a 6:1 purchase.

Yes, the T26 was designed as a mast head rig. So this boat is a "special" with all the potential downsides that entails. I would walk away, but you might find that interesting.