About 15 years ago, the bow tang on my 16 broke when my wife and I were double trapping upwind.

After the intial "What the f--- happened?" (and the rude tea-bagging we took), the rig slowly pulled down on top of us. The sail just floats down. You don't want to be anywhere near the mast when it comes down, because it'll have a lot of weight behind it and it'll conk you good if you get in the way. However, it comes down so slowly that getting out of the way is usually not a problem.