Hi Cherri, Congratulations on your first sail, ......and join the crowd! I think we've all been there and have had similar experiences. The solution to your problem of having the sail slides fall out is to have a sail stop. This is a round slug that fits in the mast slot and has a large round nut on the outside that you can tighten and there-by lock the sail slides in place. See WEST Catalog...... You also need a boom downhaul. At the moment, without looking at it I can't tell you exactly how it is rigged. but basically you have a line going from the bottom of the boom through an eye and back to a cleat. This keeps the boom from riding up, and falling out of the slot in the mast. It also allows you to add tension to the leach of the main sail to change the sail shape. An easy solution for the slide problem is to just tie a piece of bungee cord around the mast. Then the slides can't get by the bungee cord and fall out of the slot. Bungee cord is eductated rubber bands. It has a woven cover over an interior of rubber strands. It comes in various dameters, and a 1/8th inch piece should solve your problem. Just wrap it around the mast twice and put a square knot in it - pulling it tight enough so that it won't slide on the mast. Problem solved! Don't release the topping lift until after you have the main up and the halyard cleated off. Then release the topping lift so that the main can assume it's proper shape (topping lift with some slack). Do you really have a genoa? I only have a regular jib, and the fairleads for that are on the cabin top and the sheet goes to a cam cleat. May you always have fair winds and a hands breadth of water under your keel. Connie ________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.