hmmm...it does appear that the AC45's carried the pole to the rear beam like you describe. They don't even have sheet loads to contend with...I'll have to think about what you're building and wrap my head around the benefits of that. My intial thought is that it is primarily just to help transmit the extra headsail loads that come with flying a straight luff head sail but that it doesn't have much of anything to do with carrying mast loads.