We've all heard it said before - check the boat over before every race.

Well I got caught out at the Spinnaker States at Loch Sport when my mainsheet pulleys detached themselves from the boom as I gybed with 2 minutes to the start of a race.

The stainless strap (RF 463) had snapped, which really surprised me. I thought, "how would you know that was going to happen".

But looking at the break I can see that half of it is dark coloured and half is clean fractured metal, so it must have been cracked half through for some time. If I had looked I would have seen it.

Lesson learned (doesn't mean I wont do the same thing again though ).