Dan,

I have a telescoping whisker pole that has a "point" attarhment at one end, and a shackle connecter on the other.  On the mast I have a pad eye with a half circular ring attached, which is part of the spinnaker gear on the boat.  The point end of the whisker pole goes thru the clew cringle, and the snap (works on the same idea as the shackles on the jib) goes into the pad eye on the mast.

Check out the pictures on page 1025 of the 2002 West Marine Master Catalog, it shows the ends I'm talking about.  And also  look at page 1027 of the same catalog for a picture of the pad eye similiar to the one I have on the mast.

Being able to hold the genoa out in light airs makes a significant difference in boat speed when running down wind.

John
Miss T
M17 372