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So is the surgical tubing providing the tension when it's in "normal" mode?  I use prusik knots on my ridge so I'll have to rethink that bit. 

The surgical tubing is only providing tension for the head portion of the tarp.  Before the mod.,  I used a prusik and toggle also.  Now the head prusik and toggle are moved to the third attachment point to provide tension for the lower 2/3rds of the tarp. 

It is certainly in rough draft mode, and each tarp is going to provide different obstacles.  One that I found is I can only retract my tarp to the point where the wall folds are perpendicular with the ridgeline and the corner tie-outs.  That will most likely be a fact across the board. 

I like that the tarp can still be used in the traditional way, if I don't want to fiddle with the retractor.  All I need to do is move that one prusik and toggle from the third point out to the head tie-out. 

I also don't expect everyone to jump on board with this idea.  It was just a cool solution to a common problem.  If it catches on and is adapted/improved, that'd be great.  If it doesn't, oh well.