A race boat I crewed on had runners... about the only time we used them was when sailing off wind, we'd tighten the runner on the windward side. That's about all I know of them.

I have runners on my boat; they attach to the mast at about the same level as the inner forestay, on either side of the mast just aft of the forestay attachment.

I haven't really used them yet, but I was doing some cleanup on the boat yesterday and got to wondering about the runners and their proper use.

Anyone care to enlighten me?