It 's easy to see how a move a boat sailing: the wind blows on the sail, tied to the tree that is connected to the boat and pushes it forward. But transmitting wind energy to the hull of the boat, and in an efficient manner, it is a problem to be addressed seriously, if you do not want the mast with the sail flying away, and the boat remains stationary. The tree can then be only a pole, but a complex system that must withstand the absorbing shocks that may damage the hull. The first element of this system that mounts on Michael Cafiero goiter "S. Maria del Lauro" is the mast step of the tree.
It 's a wooden base, firmly attached to the hull, with a hole that will put your foot tree, which will pass through another hole in the "master", a board at deck level. From the position of the mast step, and then the tree will depend on the handling of the boat, the attitude that will take in the various gaits and the same center of action.
The lateen sail was rarely used by the fishermen of Alimuri:
the winds of the Gulf of Naples are erratic and unpredictable, but for those who exploit them knew they were a great help to the hard work the oars. To not take up room, the tree was moved to the bow of the boat, even if this made the boat rather unbalanced and hard to keep on course under sail. In a concession to evolution, the tree of the lateen sail of the crop of Mast'Antonio and Michele Cafiero will be a little 'more in the middle of the boat compared to the original model of 1919. 
