Living in an area where you cant buy righting poles I built one myself a few months ago and I have used it on my 18ft stingray. The simplicity of Ricks pole is really worth buying if you can economically get it to you. I use the locking knot and self stow similar to that setup. Dont be too complacent about the load, it might be fine where your your hands are but I bent a substantial stainless fitting at the dolphin striker end of the pole the force there is considerable and if it lets go it will definately go through your tramp and probably leave you floating with a big dent in your head. Attatch that fitting really well, I stood mine in a beer can of wessystem and cloth to make an end. You also really want a simple line system if your mucking around rigging lines and unrigging afterwards in big winds and waves with the boat trying to turtle youll probably go back to a righting line. With Ricks line system you just get on your centreboard pull the knot through right the boat slip the knot and sail on. I'll finish with a plug for Rick I ordered a few hundred dollars of gear 7 days before christmas and got it in 6 days to a little town 300 km from Adelaide <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
regards Jeff Southall