Looks like a conversion from a hanked on jib to a jib with a luff rope, but no furling mechanism.
If you do a little research.... try "headsail foils for sailboats"... you will find products, illustrations and instructional articles. The foil encases the forestay, you can easily detect the connections in the pics. The sail's "tape" is inserted into the guide, near the base, and hoisted with the halyard. The advantage of the foil setup is better aerodynamics. Twin slots or grooves in the foil allow the crew to hoist a replacement sail before dousing the existing one... which means the boat always has power during the sail change.Thanks for the info guys, now to see how to make this thing work