Bermuda Storm Survival

During the return leg from Bermuda I encountered some pretty heavy weather. At the point of losing control of the boat I decided to drop the main and deploy the drogue. Under normal conditions dropping the main would entail removing the main halyard from the sail, carefully walk it to the stern and while standing tip toe on the port jib winch, secure it to the end of the boom with the clumsy main halyard shackle. This is necessary to lift the boom off the bimini because my topping lift is...