yes, you need the mast base...
http://www.murrays.com/mm5/merchant.mvc ... gory_Code=http://www.mariner-sails.com/assembly.asp?id=23213at the bottom, called the hinge.
NOT advisable to sail solo until you're very familiar with the boat and the area in a variety of conditions...AND have a PFD, radio (marine VHF), and even some signal flares, etc. You sail over somewhere, hang out for an hour... the wind dies... you try to sail back, next thing you know a front is coming or a huge thunderstorm is overhead. In 1 hour you went from a calm sunny day to the world coming down around you... you do NOT want to be caught out in that... and certainly not single-handed.