Most whisker poles have an opening jaw on one end (and perhaps another on the other), but sometimes something that looks like a finger with a little hook to it, like you bent only the last nuckle on your finger (bending the part of the finger with the nail on it). The jaw end fits into the ring on your mast and you ALWAYS want to have the jaw opening facing up. The pointed end fits into the cringle on the sail end, or, some pointed ends also have a small sheave where you would then just lie the pointed flat end over the sheet near the clew of the sail and the line would roll on the sheave too.