Howard, I was sailing just the other day on a friends 17 and we tried the bungie trick (although we just used a piece of line). I read the same article you did. It worked superbly The boat refused to head off the wind more than about 10-15 degrees before it would turn itself right back to head to wind, even when we leaned it over severely bt both standing on the same gunwale it tracked close enough to head to wind to still be able to raise the main. All we did was to daisy-chain a piece of line around the boomand then all the way down to the tiller. When the line got to the tiller we stuck the last loop of the daisy chain over the tiller which locked it in place. This way to get it off in a hurry all you had to do was slide the line forward off the tiller and yank on it, the daisy-chain pulled apart all the way up o the boom and off the boom. The bungie idea scared me a little 'cause a strectched bungie with hooks on it always seems to be looking for someones face to snap into. I'm sure it would work just as well, though. I've been sailing for over 20 years and never seen or thought of that trick. I love it when someone comes up with something that simple! Jason's boat has a bolt rope main making it difficult for a single-hander to feed the bolt rope, raise the halyard and maintain steerage as well. This little trick made it very do-able. I guess the only thing to consider when doing it single handedly is the old "Don't fall off!" 'cause she's not gonna round up and your not gonna swim that fast! Sean