meoj1234 wrote:Sorry for the naive questions, but we are just learning.
...This forum is great and a good distraction from the rest of the world now, so thanks for your help
Naive questions are certainly welcome here on the forum, and, yes, it's a bit of a safe space, these days
Now, it sounds from your description, that conditions are too rough at times to keep the boat on a mooring. I know someone locally who anchors his boat for the weekend, but takes it out of the water if he's not using it for a while. Even so, I had to rescue it for him once in the middle of the night, when the anchor started to drag. . .
With limited periods in the water (preferably when you are nearby) you can monitor the weather conditions and keep the boat off the water when your mooring/anchorage isn't protected because the wind is too strong or comes out of the wrong direction.
Now, the only thing that holds your mast in place are the stays. Once they give, the bolts cannot hold your mast, because the lever arm is so long, it will rip out any bolt - and that's what happened to you. For the stays to work,
they need to be fairly tight, so that the mast can't move from the boat rolling. Otherwise, the mast will start moving and "slam" into the stays, which increases their likelihood of snapping. (They also shouldn't be older than about 10 years, if you stress them that hard, or 15 if not).
When you have the boat at anchor, on a mooring, the CB should be up, the rudder out of the water and the boom disconnected and kept in the cockpit, so that it can't swing about (even a bit) with every wave and put stress on the rigging. (For overnight, when you are on the boat or camping off the boat, it's enough to secure the boom with topping lift and and bridle to keep it centered; in those cases you'd normally leave the sail tied to the boom as well).
The little clevis pins can work loose, if they are not secured with cotter pins or rings (and those need to be secured as well). They are usually fine for a short time, but if you leave them up for a few days, they can work themselves loose. Happened to somebody I know who sailed the Texas 200 (five days of 40 mile trips back to back). One day, a ring worked itself loose, and while trying to secure it, he capsized.