Hi Stewart,

you are right, the pole on a 18 skiff is end supported as well of course. Because the angles of these wires are not very efficient they need the lateral stiffening. On cats, the supporting wires of the pole (the spi "shrouds") have a more efficient angle, hence no tripod and dolphin striker is need in my opinion. If I lift a cat on its pole I see very small displacement in fact. No skiff to lift up on our beach however...

Cheers,

Klaus