Hi Anne,

I’ve seen what you’re describing attached to the bow on the Ensign and a few other classes. We were thinking of constructing it, but when the bowman put the guy into the jaws of the pole and tightened/ cleated it we found it stopped happening so we never pursued it. Additionally, we installed a continuous line low profile furler that has about a 3” drum that facilitates the line to sit on it. As I look around the fleet, I noticed that those boats with the low profile furlers don’t use that batten for the guy either (usually a small piece of batten secured to the stem fitting is what I’ve seen). 

Best wishes, Rick