mizzen staysail

There was a faint squeak at my shoulder and the tip of a sail - the mizzen staysail - stirred.

Fitted with two masts and ketch-rigged with jib, mainsail, mizzen and mizzen staysail, she was named Sundowner - the Australian term for a tramp or hobo.

When running before the wind or reaching across the wind, a ketch may set extra sails such as a spinnaker on the main mast, and a spinnaker or mizzen staysail on the mizzen mast.

In the 1950s and 60s, yawls were developed for ocean racing, to take advantage of the handicapping rule that did not penalize them for flying a mizzen staysail, which on long ocean races, often downwind, were a great advantage.