[jimmalkin]

Yes - it's not always fun. Even with experience and equipment. And sometimes you wish you were drinking on the beach while the conditions have your crew/guests staring at you wondering if they should panic. Short of the mystical indestructable mast, there are a couple of other tricks that are now baked into our routine from experiences this year. Like - if you haven't replaced the dorades with their deckplates before starting to slam into 14' seas off Nantucket shoals, at least turn the buggers to face aft before the green water starts 2+ hours of sweeping the boat from stem to stern, over the trunk cabin and the dodger, filling the cockpit. We now turn the dorades aft as a matter of course prior to getting underway. Keeps it a bit dryer below.