thks, didnt' think about mast compression although in light to medium condition with the halyard pulling straight down it shouldn't flex much. good point though. I was also concerned about the halyard rubbing against the catch at the top.

raising the main is easy, the problem is dropping it... I'm 225lbs (yeah, maybe we need a bigger cat!) and while i can walk to the bows to unlock the main, i havne't tried that while the boat is still moving :-)