In sailing, the peak halyard (or peak for short) is a line that raises the end of a gaff further from the mast, as opposed to the throat halyard which raises the end nearer to the mast. Such rigging was normal in classic gaff-rigged schooners and in other ships with fore-and-aft rigging. It is absent in Bermuda rigged boats.
The peak halyard is either bent to the gaff itself or to a wire gunter depending upon the mode of rigging.
Famous quotes containing the word peak:
“Sleep shall neither night nor day
Hang upon his penthouse lid;
He shall live a man forbid;
Weary sev’n-nights, nine times nine,
Shall he dwindle, peak and pine;
Though his bark cannot be lost,
Yet it shall be tempest-tossed.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)