On Wed, 4 Jan 2006 10:52:27 -0500, "Skip Gundlach" skipgundlach at
gmail dotcom wrote:

I had an opportunity to use my bolt
cutters, which were at the boat, and not the cable cutters, which were in
the storage bin at home. Lots of work...

==================================

It sure is.

As one who has had to jettison a mast and rigging on a dark and stormy
night, I can tell you with a great deal of assurance that the quickest
way to ditch the rig is by knocking the clevis pins out with a drift
pin and hammer. The mast was threatening to punch a hole in the side
of the boat and speed was of the essence, as they say. After knocking
out all the pins, cutting the electrical cables and giving it the old
heave ho, it still refused to go down. I looked around to see why and
found the tack of the jib was still attached at the bow and holding
the whole thing up. A quick slash with a box cutter knife and it was
gone.