Ahh, one of my favorite topics. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my Flopper Stopper. Marian and I got to the point where we could drop the hook and have the flopper stopper deployed in less than 5 minutes. On the west coast of Mexico and Central America there are a dozen or so anchorages we used where we tucked in behind a bight where we were exposed to swells refracting off the beach or wrapping around the rocks. The first time we did this was the first time I'd ever deployed my Flopper stopper. I kind of knew what to do, but honestly had never even gone through the motions of hooking up the lines, it looked so simple I figured I'd learn it "just in time". Well we get anchored and the boat starts rolling. I watch Patrick and Susan on Paloma deploying theirs and figure this is the time. We rig the pole and throw the plate in the water and walla, roll is reduced at least 80%. However, the pole goes, squeak, bang bang, squeak, bang, bang, (well not really a bang, kind of a knock). Anyway we figure we are lucky to have the hook down and to be around the cape we were crossing. So we go off to sleep. About 1:00am the squeak, bang bang really has turned into Bang Bang, so I get up and go to the Pilothouse and turn on the deck lights to watch the pole under motion. What I see is that Patrick has rigged his pole to be about 45 degrees above horizontal, while mine is horizontal to the horizon. I figured the farther you get the pole away from the boat the more stabilizing moment is available. Well I pulled out the laminated sheet that describes how to deploy it and sure enough it says, raise the pole to 45 degrees. Then I realize why. When the boat rolls away from the pole it goes under stress and pulls the plate up through the water, when the boat rolls back into the plate the strain on the plate goes to zero and the stored energy in the halyard pulls the wisker pole up, essentially making the line go slack. When it comes back under tension, bang bang. So I realize having it up 45 degrees improves the down force on the for and aft guide, eliminating (or dramatically reducing) the bang bang. Well I now have to decide how to fix it. The last thing I wanted to do was pull it in at night, so I figured I'd just go up on the boat deck and pull in some slack as the boat rolled into the plate. Marian and I had adopted a rule when we left. We agreed that no one would go outside the pilothouse (or Portuguese bridge) without the other being awake and at the helm. Here I was at 1:30am trying to decide if I should brake that rule and go on the boat deck without waking her up, or simply ask her to come up and sit in the pilot house while I went up. Oh, it was blowing just a bit, not calm. Well I decided if I started breaking our rules within the first week of the trip we were going to have a hard time making any new rules so I went down and woke her up, asking her to sit in the pilothouse and make sure if I fell in she threw me a line. I put on a life jacket and went up to the boat deck and raised the pole to 45 degrees and walla, problem solved. We both went to sleep and had a great nights rest. As far as making it easy to use, our is really simple, much easier than on a N43 or a 55 because the plate is smaller and the rigging is really light and easy to handle. We deploy the pole, just a halyard, for and aft stay and attach the plate to the hanging line. I open the cockpit door and toss it in the water. To retrieve I deploy a boat pole and hook the downline. I pull it back to the opening in the cockpit door and lift the plate up out of the water into the boat. I never had a situation where the boat rolled so hard I couldn't hold onto the plate. I did ask Marian to take the boat hook from me as I pulled it in, until I learned to collapse the pole as I retrieved the line, then I didn't need any help at all. In summary, the flopper stopper on our boat was fantastic. I can't imagine being at anchor in a rough or rolly anchorage without it. Scott Bulger, Alanui, N40II, Seattle WA