Excellent answer Doug. The main point I wanted
to get across was the danger of losing the support
the main gives to the mast. Without a backstay,
carrying a spinnaker, or any sort of headsail, would
likely take out the mast.

This is true of any boat without a backstay.

"DSK" wrote in message
...
Bart Senior wrote:
You are sailing a Cheetah 30 downwind in the
trades.
Specs of the boat.
http://www.bana.com/cheetah/c30spec.htm
Conditions. 35 knot winds, 15' seas 15 seconds apart.
You have an asmmetric up and full main hauling ass
when your main starts coming apart. You do not
have a spare main.
What steps should you take next?
What should you not do? (i.e. you should have one
big concern--what is it?)

A couple of big concerns. A boat with a long sprit & a big A-sail like
this will not like heading up, in fact it will probably refuse to do so
and the attempt couold knock the boat down or break some important part
of the rig. So you have to carry on downwind.

Another concern is the loss of support for the mast from the leach of
the main. If you leave the chute up, and try to take the main down, you
will probably break the mast.

The first thing I'd think about is whether or not the thing will hold
together long enough to get into sheltered water. If that's out of the
question, then getting the spinnaker down is the first step.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King