Just some follow up on what I ended up doing. Of note, this applies to stepping the mast when the boat is on the trailer (off the trailer walking the mast up is easy; for some people, lifting the mast from the tramp on trailer is easy - but not for my back and office worker arms).
I essentially use the halyard as suggested by other posts but I bought a tripod that removes the need to do the first hard lift of the mast off of the tramp :
Three things are needed:
1. If not already present, you need to put a cleat at the base of the mast.
(ie.
http://www.murrays.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MS&Product_Code=01-1019&Category_Code=2. You need a tripod (shown below)
3. You need to use the mail sail halyard line (this will hold the mast up while you go around to connect the forestay)
Tripod that I purchased: (except I took off the horizontal bars below the top bar):
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/407160-REG/On_Stage_LS7805B_Power_Crank_Up_Lighting_Stand_.htmlThe tripod is nice to have anyway because you can rest the mast on it while getting ready to step.
Step:
1. With the boat on the trailer, get the mast ready to step: the mast pin in place at the mast base, and the mast tip pointing behind the boat (resting on the tripod).
2. Take the twist shackle at the end of the halyard line and attach it to the bridle wires (front of boat). [When the mast is upright, the halyard will be fixed to the bridle wires and then follow its normal course over the top of the mast, then down the mast under the pulley at the mast base and onto the tramp.]
3. Move the tripod so it is supporting the mast fairly close to the back of the trampoline.
4. Turn the crank on the tripod and raise the mast up to 7 to 10 feet. [Note: I put a life jacket over the horizontal tripod bar to keep it from scratching the mast.] Then get up on the tramp; lift the mast the rest of the way. It is not particularly difficult to lift once the tripod has elevated it. Once it is vertical, continue to lean forward into it but it will be quite stable there.
5. With one hand, reach down onto the tramp and grab the loose end of the halyard line coming from the base of the mast and pull it tight so that it is pulling on the bridle wires. When this line is tight, it will support the mast.
6. Cleat this line to the mast cleat.
7. Get off the boat, go forward and attach the forestay.
8. Release the halyard.
The downside of this method is the need to purchase a tripod: but it folds up nicely and helps hold the mast when it's dangling out behind the boat so I like it for that as well.
The benefit is that you don't need to deal with ropes/bungees to deal with side-to-side mast sway during mast lift and you're not using any particularly fancy contraptions that are time consuming to set up (aka the old "mast stepper" gin pole contraptions).