Gary,

You're absolutely right. The base of the mast is pinned. Yes, that could cause a real problem if it wasn't. Good catch. I guess that it is easy to forget about it in the description. You pin it when you step the mast, and forget about it. It is a nice system.

I haven't tried righting the boat by myself. Maybe next time. My crew and I have enough weight to right it with no problem. -- 440# combined, that might even right an RC30. What do you think Bill?

Don