Bad day on the Albemarle

We lost the top 8 feet of our mast yesterday. Everyone that we have talked to have always said that the Albemarle sound could get nasty and yesterday we learned the truth the hard way. We were hard on the wind, in about 20 kts of wind when the top 2 feet of the mast tore off and another 6 feet (or so) tore apart from the wires and the wreckage banging around. It took about an hour to get the wreckage under control and another 2 hours to make it back to the anchorage to perform damage control. Today, I go up to the “top” of the mast with a hacksaw and cut the jagged parts away, repair what I can and run a replacement back stay. With any luck, we should be back on the way south in a day or so. Now, do I rebuild the mast or try to replace it????
Anna will be posting more on the web site soon.