At the '93 Hobie 20 Nationals, Carleton Tucker and I ran down and took our masts down when waterspouts appeared near shore. (The charter boat racers did not).

More recently I wondered if it was good enough to rotate the mast 90 degrees and cleat it there: this would certainly reduce the side force, and the boat might not tend to pitchpole. Before thinking of doing this, my wooden A-class in this little thumbnail pix was blown over twice- breaking spreaders both times. Apparently my tiedowns were inadequate.

Catcobbler

US-21, US-167