side stay tightening vs 10-hole adjuster

Our H16 side stays are loose. We attempted to tighten them to the next slot, but weren't able to get the pin into the 10-hole adjuster when we did that. Is there something I can adjust to get all of these tight?

Thanks

They will be loose until you raise and tension the jib. Guessing you have a '70's/early '80's boat? Drawing down the jib halyard will pull the mast forward and the shrouds will tension up. The mast rake is adjust with this tension, as well as where the shrouds are pinned on the adjuster plate. In a nutshell if you are pinned too low for your setup, when you sheet in the mainsail the blocks will come together before you can sheet all the way in. There is a lot involved with how to properly set this up, just search this forum or do some google searches, there should be some good explanations or tutorial videos.