Check out this video from the UK website Yachting TV in which the crew of a 40-foot sloop intentionally weakened shrouds to allow them and the boat's mast to break. This was a controlled crash test designed to see what it would really be like to lose your mast in the best possible circumstances. In 13 knots of wind and 2-foot waves, the 6-man crew replaced the clevis pins at the bottom of two shrouds with lightweight plastic pins, then tacked the boat to stress those shrouds. When the pins gave way, the mast bent and snapped at the lower spreaders, and then the whole thing went over. The video from several angles of the mast bowing and then breaking is quite spectacular.
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