Robi clearly pulled down on the pole when its tip was insupported in the vertical plane. Ring or no ring it would have bend or broken anyway. Ask the other who have learned the hard way
Wouter
Negative Wouter sorry to say you are way off. The boat was rigged, I beached it after a race. I started pulling a bit onto the sand and she gave way. I just finished sailing, so the pole was fully supported. I had to take the pole and spin off to continue racing. This happened when we all beached to avoid some incomming weather.
