Loose sail ties are easily lost overboard. Here Colin Jarman explains a simple system of sail control without ties
We use this system for the mainsail on a little 19-footer, but I've also seen it on a 29-footer and can't imagine why it wouldn't work on boats even larger. Its great virtues are that it is always available and it's dead simple. We never have to search the boat for a tier.All we have is a doubled length of shockcord (elastic rope) stretched along the underside of the boom with just enough tension to keep it taut. Beneath the clew of the mainsail, the pair of cords are seized together and there's a similar seizing about half way along the sail's foot and a third about 12in short of the tack. Between each seizing a plastic hook is fastened to one piece of shockcord. (These hooks are bought from the chandler in a size to fit the elastic used.)
When the mainsail is handed, the hooks are pulled up on one side of the sail, the plain shockcord on the other and the two linked on top of the sail bundle. That's it, the sail is secure. To hold the head down, I have tied a short length of rope to each of the shockcords forward beneath the gooseneck. These come up and are reef knotted together to hold the headboard down, usually with the halyard still attached, ready for a quick hoist.
It's dead easy, as the photos show.
When the sail is handled, a hook and a plain loop are pulled up and linked above the sail to hold the bunt securely in place along the boom.
Safety! Should you accidentally let go of a hook, it will self-stow beneath the boom without hitting you.