Instinct
Hi Bob,
I may be wrong, but my instinct is to tighten the fore and jib stays last, since having a greater angle than the shrouds, they'll more easily pull the mast out of true if nothing exists to oppose their pull. If they do bend the masts forward (which I've seen), it'll be a lot harder to get them back into place with shroud tension than if you set the shrouds up first, as snug as you need them, then move on to jib and forestay.
According to Tom Cunliffe ([i]Hand, Reef, and Steer, [i]page 41)[i] the eyes of the shrouds by convention go on the mast starboard forward first, then port forward, then starboard aft, then port aft. On my boat (31' gaff-rigged pilot cutter) I tighten them in this sequence as well.
I can't speak to bobstay, since mine is a fixed length and gets tighter as the jibstay does. I don't think timing matters a whole lot on the bowsprit shrouds, but I'd be inclined to set them up before doing the jibstay.
since the headstays are going to put pressure on the triatic stays, I like to set the triatics to where they're not visibly pulling the mastheads together, then tighten up the headstays.
To sum up: my theory is lowers first, caps (if you have them) next, triatics, forestay, bowsprit shrouds, then jibstay.
Best of luck.
Ben
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