I just read about someones bridal tang breaking off... wow.. thats hard to predict.

Got me thinking... maybe we could write up a list of reasons why people demast as a guide of items to inspect more often.
Of course this wont prevent failures in hard to see areas (like a stress crack in a bow tang) but it may help others.

I demasted 2 weeks ago with a beautiful blond on the wire. The cause... my steel ring on top of my furler blew out. I had noticed it had elongated, but failed to replace this $3.00 part.. luckily no other damage happened and a nice power boater towed me about 5 miles to shore...