The pole shown in the picture is just a six foot 2 x 4 with the heel resting against the mast step. A *brake* winch on the pole pulls the mast up into position. The line from the winch has a snap hook on the end that clips to a bail I mounted on the mast about 7' up. A pair of temporary baby stays (3/16" line) go from the bail to the grab rails on each side to keep the mast from leaning in either direction. The top of the pole is fixed to the bow cleat with a dock line. The pole stays stationary during the whole process. The line from the winch just plucks the mast into position. The beauty of this system is that I can stop the process at any stage (to untangle a shroud or straighten a turnbuckle toggle, for example) and the mast will stay locked in position. This is the system I use on my 23' cutter Chiquita and I duplicated it for the M17. It is a homemade knock-off of the latest Macgregor system, sold by bwachts.com (http://bwyachts.com/BWYParts/PartsList.htm , part # 3418-1M0) for the Macgregor 26M. Macgregor's kit uses a round aluminum pole. There is also a version that uses a block and tackle instead of a winch but the latest and most effective, I believe, uses the brake winch. (Very important--use a real *Brake* winch with a clutch and not a regular trailer winch. A brake winch will hold the load when you let go. A trailer winch can get away from you and the handle can break your arm if you accidentally let go.) Here is a link to a site that shows how one sailor constructed a similar system: http://foleyisland.com/?category_name=restoring-a-venture-of-newport Scroll way down to get to the mast raising system. -- Henry https://picasaweb.google.com/heinzir