[quote=Dogboy]Removal of the flapper, not the hook, correct. The hook is required to keep the sail up. The flapper was intended to help with lowering the sail, but can actually make engaging the ring onto the hook more difficult. You can easily remove the flapper by either drilling out or grinding off the head of the rivet that holds it on.
The jib is not going to keep the boat in irons. The jib is going to pull the bows off the wind, so even if you go hove-to with the jib up, the boat is going to be pointed at least 45 degrees off the wind and that is going to make hoisting the main difficult. Not saying it can't or hasn't been done, but it will be significantly more difficult than with the boat pointed directly into the wind on land.
If you need to launch from an offshore beach, in many cases the easiest way is to sail out backwards. Release the mainsheet, lock the rudders up, and push the boat off the beach stern first. Sit on the bows so the sterns are clear of the water and the boat will track straight downwind. Continue backwards until you have enough depth and space to put the rudders down, bear off, and start heading forward.
Back to hoisting the mainsail. The easiest is with two people. One person stands in front of the front crossbar and guides/feeds the mainsail into the luff track. The other person stands behind the rear crossbar and hoists. Once the sail is all the way up, the person in front can operate the rotator arm as needed to engage the ring. If you're doing this solo, you will have to stand by the rear crossbar to hoist and walk forward on the trampoline as needed to guide the sail and operate the rotator.
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