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Here in Kentucky, the sailing capitol of the US, I have seen these many times. It has 2 uses. The first is a form of lightning rod. The lanyard is tied to a halyard and hauled up with the bottom loose. As is swings it disrupts the corona build up on the mast by beating the stray ions off, thus preventing formation of the leader portion of a lightning strike. They are kept below to limit damage to the mast and the awful racket made when in use.
The second use is a woop-ass stick. Very useul in the pirate ridden waters of the landlocked midwest. Please note the hyphen.
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