What happens when your forestay fails

Sep 19, 2004
85
Hunter e36 Vancouver
The forestay on my 36 failed while I was sailing last week.
I was on a beam reach with about 12 knots of wind and relatively calm waters.
The jib furler came off the bow and started to bang on the side of the boat.
I put on the engine and furled up the main sail so that I can deal with the loose jib.
That was the life saver.
I now realised that the mast was supported by the wind at the time. Pulling the main back into line with the boat means it was over the traveller on the main arch and furling the main leave the boom sitting on the traveller. The boom vang was stretched, maintaining the boom at close to right angle with the mast and therefore prevent the mast from falling backwards even without the forestay.
Managed to power back to home berth and rigger is now working on checking the rigging.
This is a major advantage of Hunters to having the arch over the cockpit.
Without the arch, the boom and mast would have fallen backwards, likely landing on me and wreck the bimini, dodger, and whatever is in its way.
As it is, there is relatively minor damage to the mast, radar, etc.
The clevis pin for the forestay was missing from the toggle that was holding it to the bow. I am assuming that the cotta pin or whatever is keeping the clevis pin in place came off.
I will be checking my forestay from time to time from now on!
 
Sep 22, 2009
134
Hunter 36 Seattle, WA
That’s how we build our checkout list! Rigging connections are the last thing we think about— but as with thru hulls and waterpump impellers— there are small things, that we depend on to keep the entire boat seaworthy. All of them are worth checking and maintaining. Thanks for sharing your lesson!
 
May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
Lucky, it would help to rig a temporary headstay using a halyard. You can sail down wind and keep pressure on the mast while rigging a halyard. I do not know how it happens but I have lost clevis pins at the headstay. I guess they corrode and break.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
So glad you didn't suffer a major catastrophe. Tape or wire are good to keep everything in its place.

However, tape can trap water and hide corrosion. It's good to replace it at least once a season.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Jan 22, 2008
296
Islander Freeport, 41 Ketch Longmont, CO
You are lucky, Once you had the sails under control, you should run a spare halyard forward to the bow to take some of the tension off of the boom and also help ensure everything stays up.

glad it worked out and was only minor fix.
 
Jun 4, 2004
834
Hunter 340 Forked River, NJ
We had our forestay fail years ago on our 1980 Cherubini H30. The boat carried a StayStream solid rod furler in place of the forestay wire. On that system, the lower furler drum is screwed into a fitting at the bow and rotates on a set of bearings inside the drum. Well, the bearings seized and the whole drum unscrewed from the base when I furled the jib. The forestay rod and furled jib, still attached to the top of the mast just flopped along the side of the boat. I ran forward and attached our spinnaker halyard to the bow stem fitting and put it under tension. I dropped the mainsail and headed for our slip under power. The boat had a standard single spreader Marconi rig with two side stays on each side and a backstay and I guess that the geometry was just right to keep the mast stable. Despite our frequent PAN-PAN requests over our VHF for boats to stay clear, we had to navigate the usual heavy wake and wave action of the many power boats coming and going through the channel leading to our river berth. I had my wife go below just in case the mast started to come down. The boat rolled and pitched but the mast stayed up and we made it back. I replaced all of the upper and lower furler bearings and enjoyed many years of sailing after that. What is it that they say about sailing being hours and hours of peace interrupted by moments of shear terror?
 
Sep 10, 2012
220
Hunter 450 Gulfport, Florida
Mine "failed" at the upper attach point due to an apprentice rigger attaching to the hollow aluminum spacer rather than the nice 5/8 stainless pin. I ran my spinnaker halyard forward as the rig was doing a serious dance orbit in the sky. If the weather had been even slightly different the end result would have been, well smashing!
 
Sep 25, 2018
258
Catalina Capri 22 Capri EXPO 14.2 1282 Stony Point
The forestay let go on my Hunter 23.5. Surmise a kid thought it fun to remove the cotter. Luckly, the mast is hinged and fell back between me and the admiral. Just got the overhanging sails on board, motored back to the dock, got a new clevis pin, raised the mast and went back to sailing. I never leave the dock without checking the clevis pin now.
 
Sep 19, 2004
85
Hunter e36 Vancouver
It was so chaotic when it happened and I didn’t want to take my eyes off the wobbling mast. The jib halyard happened to be stuck tight to the jib and won’t come off without getting some tools. I was by myself so had to let the boom vang keep the mast from falling backwards.
Very thankful for the arch.
 

Joe

.
Jun 1, 2004
7,999
Catalina 27 Mission Bay, San Diego
If the forestay fails.... turn downwind so the mast is supported by the backstay and shrouds while you go forward to sort out the problem.... a spare halyard is ideal, but even a staysail with wire luff will give enough support if you keep the load to the rig minimized.
 
Dec 31, 2016
319
Beneteau Oceanis 351 Charlottetown
A benefit of removing your mast for winter storage verses leaving the stick up is checking your rigging.