We had somewhat of a major crisis on board last night after dark. There was a very large bang on deck, the mast was wobbling like jelly, and our starboard aft mast shroud was flying around in the wind, the deck fitting having failed (2 x 10mm stainless steel bolts). We were sailing in 14 knots on a beam reach in a relatively flat sea! Mark and I got the main and genoa sails down in less than 20 seconds and we put the boat on the opposite tack to relieve the strain. After an hour of spare halyard lashing, rigging pulleys up left, right and centre, we managed to stabilise the rig and got the kettle of for a decent cup of Tetley's. I came back on watch at 0400 and the daylight came up at 4-30 am, so I set to work on a more permanent repair with the able assistance of Mark and Clare. By 9 am, the kettle was on again, our jury rig holding, genoa and main (small) out, and we are now sailing along at 5 knots again after I knocked up fried bacon, eggs, mushrooms and baked beans, a hearty survivors breakfast. The solution involves a rope loop through the deck holes where the bolts were, a spare halyard attached to the steel rigging cable with a plastic tube and jubilee clip, two pully blocks and the use of two winches. The fault occurred as we were exactly halfway across the Atlantic to within 5 miles of the great circle route! Now the adrenaline has died down somewhat, I'm off to bed soon for a rest having been up since 2 am! The sun is out and our repair is holding well, which is just as well as we do not have enough fuel to motor the 866 Nm to the next closest island, Flores, in the Azores. We have enough spares on board to effect several more such repairs when our rope gives out under the strain, so we are quite certain that we will be sailing as far as possible to save our fuel. And just as we thought all was getting rather quiet on board....!