Sky, Moon & Studding Sails?

Christopher Golian (read the previous post), sent me this photo of the Regina Maris fore mast. When he was aboard the Regina she had two extra yards on the fore mast, a sky yard and a moon yard. I remember having to stow the royal sail during a gale and that was pretty damn high already. I recall that the shrouds didn't make it all the way to the yard and I had to grab a hold of the mast and shimmy the last couple of feet to the royal yard. That is not too bad in good weather, but it was blowing like mad and the mast was swinging quite a lot. I cannot begin to imagine what it woould have been like to get all the way to the top of a mast with two extra yardarms.

Another cool thing in this photo is the presence of a studding sail. I have seen a painting of the Regina in full sail including her studding sails but I never saw them in use.

If you have any photos of the Regina Maris, don't hesitate to email them to me. I'll be glad to post them on the blog.