Forestay / bridle connection

I have a Wave but purchased an '81 H16 so I'm trying to figure out the rigging. It has the typical setup with the bridles attached to a shackle on the bottom of the adjuster and a clevis pin in an adjuster hole to pin the forestay.

In a Youtube H16 setup video I see that the person attaches the forestay to a carabiner hooked to a shackle on the end of the adjuster (pic. below). This looks like it would be a much easier way of getting the forestay secured while stepping the mast. Is there any downside to doing this?

Just seems like a way to make the forestay longer and get some more mast rake. Not a fan of the carabiner myself, but I’m in ocean conditions and try to avoid anything that might unexpectedly pop open. Theoretically, the carabiner will hold the forestay.

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H16 2002 "Islands" Sail No. 107432

The H16 is unique in that the forestay only holds the mast up when the jib is not raised. Once the jib is up and tensioned, the luff wire in the jib “becomes” the forestay. So on a H16, using a carabiner on the forestay should be fine since it sees relatively little load. On any other boat, where the forestay is subjected to the full sailing loads (mainsheet tension, rig tension, trap lines), I would not use a caribiner and would choose a standard clevis pin arrangement.

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Thanks, I think it’s a great idea to use a biner to pin the forestay when raising the mast, since I usually task one of my kids with this and it’s much easier to just clip it on. Even though it takes no load while sailing, stuff does happen and I would pin normally as soon as the jib is up and tensioned...just in case you lose halyard tension or whatever.

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Tim
84 H16
82 H16
87 H14T
Tortola Sails: 115222
Blue Prism Sails: 88863
Clearwater, FL