Stavanger, on the south west coast of Norway, -but contrary to what you may think, winters aren't especially harsh in this part of our country. These excellent ice conditions really never occurs, so I'm glad I took the opportunity that year!

Thanks, but this worked perfectly fine without such a loop. Contrary to what I feared, the ladle-outfitted mast-bottom did not "try to get away", but stayed in position with minimal attention/effort.
The improvement i would suggest, is to rig the sail such that the boom comes much higher up, -maybe on a mast that is normally to long for this sail, or by setting the extention to its highest position. I had to bend down a little too much.