In a message dated 2/16/2005 11:24:07 AM Pacific Standard Time, jlgonzalez@san.rr.com writes: I may revert to using the clevis pin and cotter ring for the forestay/masthound connection, at least initially, 'cause I don't need a dismasting with my family onboard. Hi John, I was dismasted. Totally as a result of my "incompetence, ignorance or lack of counsel". Here's what happened... I had just bought Feather, my Potter 15 and had done lots of modifications to her to make her fit me. One of the things I did was to add a jib downhaul. It worked great in the front yard. I didn't know better and attached the bottom pully (block) to the forstay mount. I was in the SF Bay with the wind howling with a reef in the main, when the mast suddenly came down. My thought was, the block got tangled in the forestay connection and released it. Dont know how long it was like that, but I can tell you it was a bit scary for a couple of minutes. After regaining my composure and throwing overboard my pride, I made it back to the dock under power, reattached the mast, removed the downhaul and went back out to ride that horse that just bucked me off. The good news is dismasting with a small boat isn't to bad. Frightening if it occurs, but did no damage to the parts & pieces (only my pride). Bill M-17 "Tipperary" San Francisco (it's raining)