The halyard typically rises from the head of the sail to a block at the head of the mast and back down to deck level, from where it is pulled up to raise the sail.

A technique called "remote radio-head" involves shifting radio equipment from the cabin to the top of the mast, where it is cooled naturally.

Haulbowline head and Mizzen-mast hill were at my elbow, the hill bare and dark, the head bound with cliffs forty or fifty feet high and fringed with great masses of fallen rock.