Has anyone experienced this? I'd especially be interested to hear
what happened, how you reacted, and how you might have
prevented it from happening.

Also, if someone knows of a way to prevent the following from
happening, besides using regular maintenance, inspection, and
replacement, I'd like to hear it.

Fortunately, no one was hurt, and the boat wasn't damaged other
than the obvious.

The skipper, S... is an experienced sailor and a former student.
The only thing I can really think to criticize him for would be not
having a backup handheld VHF.

"Skipper: S... (male)

Crew: L... (female), N.... (male), R.... (female)



Departed Clipper Harbor ~12:00 noon and motored direct to Ayala Cove.
Finding no open dock space, we raised sails and hove to behind Pt. Campbell
for lunch. ~2:00 we resumed sailing off Bluff Pt. SE past Angel Is., then
S towards Alcatraz Is. By 3:00 we were beating SW towards the Gate into a
~15-20 kt. wind, a ~3 kt. flood, and medium chop.

We had completed 3 tacks and were proceeding with R... at the tiller, S...
in the companionway, and N... and L... in the cabin, when there was a loud
cracking sound, followed immediately by a loud bang on the cabin roof. I
could see that R... was disturbed and surprised; by the time I turned around
to look forward over the cabin top, the mast and both sails were already in
the water over the starboard rail. No one was hurt. I asked R... to go
below while I looked around.



Immediate damage assessment:

The mast was snapped off completely at the base, with only the twisted mast
step and a broken bit of wire sticking up from the cabin top. The mast was
hanging down into the water with all rigging apparently intact: mainsail
and storm jib. One of the starboard stanchions was poking through the foot
of the mainsail, catching the boom and keeping the rigging from sliding over
the side. The base of the mast was sticking up over the cabin top and
sawing back and forth as the hull rolled with the chop, but it didn't appear
to be going anywhere. We had been on a port tack (heading towards Angel
Is.) at the time of the collapse, so the rigging had gone over the starboard
side. Acting as a sea anchor in the face of the wind and current, we then
swung around with the rigging to the SW and the bow to the SE. This put us
across the chop, and the boat was rolling strongly. A 360° look showed no
nearby traffic and lots of sea room.



Cause:

The cause of the collapse was immediately apparent - the stern-most of the
three bolts that hold the port stays was sticking up out of the deck with
its top split open. All other shrouds and stays were still attached.



Response:

With no imminent threat, we all caught our breath in the cabin, and I called
pan pan pan to the Coast Guard a few times. It took several minutes of
fooling around with the radio before we remembered the antenna was mounted
on top of the mast. We did not have a back-up handheld radio. Fortunately,
within minutes the powerboat Rubicon (looked like a father and a teenage
boy) came by to see how we were, and they radioed the Coast Guard for us,
then took up station-keeping nearby. With the wind and engine noise we were
barely able to communicate.

The Coast Guard Auxilliary vessel Silver Charm showed up in about 10-15
minutes. After confirming that there was no medical or other emergency,
they circled us and then came in close enough to communicate with us through
a megaphone. I requested assistance getting the rigging up on deck with the
idea of salvaging it. The Coast Guard indicated it would be too difficult
to carry in the chop and to dock, and asked us instead to cut it loose. As
the mast was by now hanging almost vertically down off the side, I decided
to comply. We had a cable cutter in the toolbox in the cabin that I used to
cut the shrouds and stays, working clockwise from the port (downwind)
shrouds. In the process I also undid the stop knot in the end of the vang
sheet so I could pull it free of the cabin top, and I undid the main sheet
and pulled it free of the boom tackle as the rigging disappeared into the
deep.

Once I was sure that we were clear of all lines, I started the motor and we
headed back to Clipper Harbor, escorted by the Silver Charm. We made it
back to Richardson Bay without further incident, though with all the
bouncing and rolling and wind, we were soaked to the skin by the time we
docked. The Silver Charm crew also tied up, and they came over to talk with
us and give us the Coast Guard contact information."