Hi Steve, I had a spinnaker on my big boat and sailing just with my wife, I investigated the sock to tame the spinnaker. The idea is simple: you hoist the spinnaker in the sock. Then when the spinnaker is hoisted, you pull on the UP line that pulls the sock up from the bottom of the spinnaker allowing the spinnaker to fill and fly. When it's time to douse the spinnaker, you pull on the DOWN line, and pull the sock down over the spinnaker: collapsing it into the sock as the sock comes down. (The control lines are an up haul and a down haul) When the sock is all the way down, the spinnaker is back in the sock tube, and all is peaceful and serene. One problem you have flying a spinnaker is that you are running down wind. If the wind speed picks up, you hardly notice it (remember it's wind speed minus boat speed) so you will tend to carry the spinnaker far too long as the wind builds. In my case, we were heading for Buzzards Bay, spinnaker was up and pulling beautifully; when I slowly started noticing that the bow wave was almost coming up to deck level. HUH? What's going on? .......and it was only then that I recognized that it was HIGH time to get the spinnaker down .................... So, be aware, going downwind with a spinnaker can be deceptive for the skipper. Magazines like SAIL and CRUISING have had articles on handling a spinnaker, so if you have access to a good library check out if they have them. Connie