Inner stays

[Ian McColgin]

Mostly spelling.

A staysail stay is a more generic term. My old schooner Goblin had two, a main staysail stay running from the mainmast down to about deck level abaft the fore mast, and the forestaysail stay.

So forestaysail is specificly the stay on which you hang the forestaysail. On simple double headsail rigs with a bowsprit, the forestaysail typically lands on the stem. In double headsail boats with a stem tacked jib, the forestaysail stay lands on deck.

The solent stay is a more emphatically detachable (usually) forestay that attaches on the mast near enough to the jib that it will not require more support in the way of running backstays or swept shrouds. It's value is that it brings the location of a storm jib inboard a bit and it can be used for spreading some extra light sail on a reach. It's usually too close to the jib stay near the top to allow tacking the jib with the solent stay up.

G'luck