Today was a bad mistake!

This morning we left our anchorage and just put our nose out into the Neuse River in NC. Weather reports said 20 knots this afternoon and we discussed it and thought we could be across the open area and into the lee before it hit. Ah, no. By the time we'd reached a point of no return, we were both knowing this was a bad mistake. We had 6 foot all the way, pounding into one while the second and third washed over the boat. We found one other sailboat out with us and the captains began to discuss strategies on how to get into an anchorage with the least amount of difficulty. Part of the journey in had to be some beam sea. We were looking for as little as possible and we wound up tacking in, passing by the anchorage and coming about to take it on the quarter rather than much beam. It was a very nasty day. Two mishaps occurred while underway. Our secondary anchor broke loose and began paying out while we were underway making forward progress. Ron heard it (although how he heard it with the roar of the wind and the slap of the waves, is beyond me) and he went out to correct the problem while I kept her into the wind as best I could with little or no headway until the anchor was again secure. Then I heard a clunking sound from the bridge and the mast had pulled out of the two supporting brace sleeves. The mast was wavering back and forth on it's own hinge and one of us had to go up. Ron wanted to go but I was truly afraid to take the wheel in this and knew if I went overboard, there was a good possibility of him getting me back, whereas if he went overboard, we were both doomed! (A little joke there) Up I went and secured the mast to the f/b backrest railing. We are currently anchored in a little creek called Bear Creek and have about a one foot chop going. It looks like we'll be here for at least 48 hours according to reports. So we'll be using the generator for all our needs. Speaking of the generator, that decided to die on us three nights ago. Ron backwashed it and cleared the line and it worked yesterday and quit again that evening. Last night he changed the salt water impeller and all is well! We didn't find all the pieces to the old impeller however -- so keep a good thought out! O well, this is what makes an interesting read in a log!!