A sail that is set at or near the head of the vessel, that’s to say before the mast or before the foremast. Most modern yachts are sloops with a single headsail which is hanked on the forestay and logically called a forestaysail or Staysail. A Cutter has two headsails, a staysail and a Jib ahead of that, often set from the bowsprit end. Nowadays, when most boats enjoy only a single heads ail, it is common to call that sail a jib, and especially so in sailing dinghies, so in practice the word jib has two meanings. The word foresail is not a generic term for all forward sails as headsail is, but has two specific meanings. In some fishing and working boats the headsail set from stemhead to masthead (not the topmast head, for these would be boats with a mast and separate topmast) was called the foresail. The staysail would then be set outside on the long stay from stemhead to topmast. The jib would always be the sail set from the bowsprit end. The other kind of foresail is set abaft the foremast of a Schooner, and usually has a boom at its foot, so that it is a miniature sister of the mainsail which sets on the after mast (mainmast) of a schooner.