I played around with it, and I think this strategy can replace our current "safe" route! Instead of jumping out into the middle of the swamp, you can trigger the same effect by double-jumping from the top of the mailbox. This strat is also nice because it eliminates the slim-but-present risk of missing the ground when the elastic pulls you back and dropping down into the alligator's mouth. Nice find, thanks for pointing it out! Here's a clip of what I think the new route will look like.

You can actually jump to the left of the crocodile, but it's very precise. It saves about 10 seconds, but usually isn't worth the risk. You can see it in the segmented run at 17:45.

I'll try this other version sometime, it might be worth using instead of the elastic route!