Well this is a little off topic but I thought you might like an update on the Explorer 44 Trimaran mast we built a couple of months ago of which I posted some picture here. We just heard today that the mast came down 120 mi off shore in the Gulf Coast sailing from Brownsville TX to the Florida Keys.

The backstay was attached to the mast by a $150 high strength shackle (picture below). This beast has a 28K lbs working load and a breaking load of 75K lbs Apparently the rigger screwed in the pin but didn't wire it closed. Some time during the trip the pin worked loose and the shackle lost it's holding power and bent open.

Luckily it came down in the middle of the night with no one on deck in light winds. The mast was a rotating one with its butt in a cup that alowwed it to rotate. When the mast hit 60 degrees it came out of the cup and did some damage to the deck but the mast was relatively undamaged. Because the mast was all carbon it was light enough that they could winch it back on deck and motor to shore with their remaining 25 gal of gas.

I guess this is another example of a chain being only as strong as it's weakest link. Thank god the winds were light or our the mast might be at the bottom of Gulf right now.

Regards,

Jack