As the realities of designing new sails for Leeway begins to settle in, I've been considering ways to sheet the mainsail on my 40' schooner. With my current wind vane location it looks like I would have to say a brief prayer before each tack or gybe in the hope of preventing the wind vane from being decapitated by the sheet. Using my standard techniques of sitting on the boat drinking coffee, as well as searching the JRA forums, I've come up with the solution that it might be possible to sheet the mainsail to a Sheet-Arch/Bimini/Mainsheet Traveler hybrid, that might also solve some other problems at the same time (solar panels, rain collection, sun cover).  You can see the drawing in my member album. Our boat already has an aluminum bimini that could be extended aftward and tied into the substantial pulpit. I've looked at the Arch that David had on Tystie, and would like to do something similar, but the sheeting requirements necessitate a somewhat cantilevered arrangement. Has anyone gone through a similar design process? The main question would be how to make it strong enough to withstand the sheeting loads of a 500 sqft (50 m2) sail?