Hi, I had the same problem. Actually I had to leave the stays a little loose to get that ball link pin into the bridle. While masting alone I had to hold the mast with my shoulder, then tie a line to the trailer mast holder with as much tension as I could get. Even then it was the most time consuming and tedious task to get all holes lined up to insert the pin. When I got out into the chop or boat wakes the shrouds would sing, twang and snap with the slack. I thought for sure that something would eventually break! I made a guide out of 3' of 1/4" rod bent it into a "U" (4" between upper and lower rod, one rod about an inch longer) to act as a large pair of pliers. On the bottom of the "U" I slid a 3" piece of plastic tube 1/4" ID to hold the bridle cable eye's with the U bolt in the middle, the OD of the tube holds the U bolt in the up position. Then slid the upper rod into an extra forestay adjustment hole with about 10" of the rods coming out the other side. Now the bridle is attached to the forestay and when I squeeze the ends of rods with my hand everything gets pulled taught up into place and the pin slips right in, then slide off the guide. After that problem was solved I was able to shorten the length of my shrouds, now all standing rigging is almost as tight as piano wire but still allows the mast to turn freely and also have more rake. If you can't picture it, e-mail me and I'll take a couple of pictures of the rig for you.
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