Forereaching has worked for me on several occasions and most likely would have been some help to these folks as well. It's another reason I wouldn't like to change boats. Brerndon, with her full keel and cutter rig does it quite nicely. Denny normally goes down below to the bunk in the main solon where we have a good lee cloth and I lay down in the Pilot House bunk where I can watch the Radar, wind instruments and Chart Plotter. It's usually less then 10 to 12 hours before something changes and we can get moving again. Usually we forereach at about one knot so I would have set up on the tack that gives us the best ride and if necessary, sea room. My wife calls it "parking." IMHO, when people are out for a sail and the wind pipes up to something uncomfortable and they just want to get out of it, that's the time to see if the boat will heave to and how it's going to act. It doesn't need to be blowing a gale to try it out. A good solid nasty day with some seas will give you a good idea of what's going to work for you. keeping a couple hundred feet of spare anchor line ready to deploy is a good idea as well. I've found that a loop from stern cleat to cleat putting the loop in the line out about a hundred feet behind the boat and is just about right for Brendon in most situations. By the time we start down the face of the wave the loop has passed up and over the crest of the wave and the downward angle starts to drag the line underwater and through the wave. That drags the stern back around standing the boat back up and keeping her from stuffing the bow at the bottom. You might have to tinker with the length some for different situations but 200 feet of line seems to be good place to start for us. These are the first two options I drag out of my bag when it gets a bit ugly out.