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The boat probably has halyard turning blocks on the mast collar. The rod from the keel step to the deck/collar serves to keep the halyard tension from hogging the cabin top.
Deck-stepped versus keel-stepped each have their pros and cons, however, if the mast support isn't perfectly engineered, with deck-stepped the resulting problems can be greater. I'd say there's a general preference for keel-stepped as the less problem-prone approach. You don't see many deck-stepped masts as boats get over 30' or so, except perhaps in Europe.
I have difficulty getting the mast collar of my keel-stepped mast completely water-tight....
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