We were about 18 hours out of Tonga heading upwind en route to Hawaii in our Tayana 37 when the back stay suddenly let go at about 3am (why do these things always happen in the wee hours?). There were a frantic few seconds while we got everything stabilized:
-Head into the wind.
-Crash the halyards.
-Go on deck and rig the topping lift as a temporary back stay.
-Secure the sails.
-Collapse in the cockpit untile I stop shaking from adrenalin overdose.

We were lucky though. The mast stayed up.

Interestingly, I discovered that night that teleportation is possible and actually exists. My wife had been sleeping down below on the settee and the bang of the back stay letting go woke her up. She called up "Do you need my help?"
"YES!" I shouted. "We lost the f*ucking back stay!"
Thats when it happened. She was down below on the settee and the next instant she was next to me asking "What do you want me to do?"