<P> The bowsprit on a tall ship may be of considerable length and carry several forestays supporting the foremast . Headsails are stowed by tying onto the bowsprit when not in use . To minimise the risk of bowsprit and crew handling sail on it being buried in large waves, it is normally angled upwards from the horizontal . </P> <P> Some hang gliders use a bowsprit, rather than a spar to spread their wings . The bowsprit is formed by extending the keel tube about a metre beyond the leading edge of the wing . In 1879 a patent in England by F.W. Brearey was filed (followed by U.S. patenting in numbers 234947 and 320042) that taught bowsprit structure for flying machines . In the modern mid-1900s renaissance in hang gliding a Dial Soap TV commercial featured in 1973 a bowsprit cross-sparless hang glider . Other examples of bowsprit hang gliders were exampled in the gliders manufactured by Bautek in the 1980s . </P>

Tall pole supporting the sail of a ship