u/Lucky0wl96

Hello! Bought an old Optimist from a now-gone sailing school and am having problems with the mast. Mast sits on a metal collar inside the bow. When I sail in anything but the absolute lightest winds, the mast lifts right off the collar and is then swinging freely, with only the hole acting as a fulcrum. The base of it swings so freely within the bow that it repeatedly loosens/knocks the metal collar free (otherwise screwed in). There are no stays, which I am reading is normal/regulation for an Optimist. What am I missing here? I saw a neighbor's near-identical boat with 3 stays, and they have no such problems.