As I wrote on the www.1design.com forum a few days ago ;



When faced with an immergency a trick is to tip the boat over yourself and possibly weight down the tip of the mast. If the trampoline is parallel to the wind direction then the boat will be very stable.

Also tie down your mast rotation at all times when parking the boat. An oscillating wingmast can and will break the boat loose no matter how it is secured. Typical method employed by European sailors (who all have on beach permanent mast up parking) is to tie two lines running from the tip of the mast rotation arm to each side stay hull fitting. This makes a huge difference when the boat is caught in a storm.

Also when tying down for mast up parking, it is best to have two lines come straight up from the ground next to the the sidestay hull fittings. Tie these off to these fittings and possibly use the left over end to tie them off to the trap wires. This latter action is no longer employed by use here on the beaches as it doesn't appear to be necessary with a properly tied down mastrotation. The line from the sides must be taught so tie a loop in the these lines and use that to really tighten the line (lashings). Moor the boat to these lines when it is off its dolly and when taught then move the dolly under the bows to roughly where the bridle fittings are. Now the tie downs will be really taught and the boat is well anchored to the ground and ready for everything they has to withstand on our beaches.

Tim, if I were you I would forget about the trees (too much slack in the lines anyway) and just dig two holes in your garden spaced apart a little more then the width of the boat and lay a 1x2 or 2x4 piece of wood in them will a line looped around it. Then fill up the holes, of course. They need to be deep 2 feet deep is enough and 2 feet long pieces of timber is enough as well.

This trick is also easy at regatta sites when there is ground your are allowed to dig in. This is because it is easy to get these ground anchors out later. Just dig up one end, leverage this end up and pull it out sideways.

It does surprise me that so much US masts are broken this way. Afterall these issues have been covered many times on the related forum. Some should have known better.

With F16's, a proper tie down policy is your friend. And when designed right it will not more then 2-3 minutes to tie is down properly.

Wouter