sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' ( land yacht) over a chose ...

, the peak

halyard In sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line (rope) that is used to hoist a ladder, sail, flag or yard. The term ''halyard'' comes from the phrase "to haul yards". Halyards, like most other parts of the running rigging, were classically made of ...

(or peak for short) is a line that raises the end of a gaff which is further from the mast, as opposed to the throat halyard which raises the end which is nearer to the mast. Such rigging was normal in classic gaff-rigged

schooner A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...

s and in other ships with fore-and-aft rigging. It is absent in

Bermuda rig A Bermuda rig, Bermudian rig, or Marconi rig is a configuration of mast and rigging for a type of sailboat and is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats. This configuration was developed in Bermuda in the 1600s; the term ''Marconi'' ...

boats. The peak halyard is either bent to the gaff itself or to a wire gunter depending upon the mode of rigging.

References

{{Sail Types Sailing rigs and rigging Xephos