‘We let go and the entire rig sank like a stone’

Dismasting doesn’t happen very often in summer coastal cruising. When it does, proximity to land and other boats usually means that some external help is at hand. But the possibility that you lose the rig and have to deal with the ensuing situation alone is always there.

I was sailing , a 30-year-old Beneteau First 36.5, with her owners Thomas and Astrid, from Gotland back to mainland Sweden, a distance of 70 miles. Her mast and standing rigging had been professionally inspected two years previously, her sails and running rigging were mostly new, and everything appeared sound. We put in a first reef with a breeze of 14 knots and the second at 17 knots and were making 6.7