I turned my attention back to the channel, and motored for about thirty seconds when suddenly a channel marker sign rose above the bagged main—I was about three feet away from motoring straight into a concrete pylon. It had been completely obscured by the mast and the bagged main, and I was sitting at the helm and not moving around to see in front of me. It just hadn't really occurred to me that there could be something completely obscured for that long. I’d been motoring straight at it with no indication that it was there and without properly looking out.
I threw the helm over hard to port, and then when I was broadside to the pylon, I went hard over to starboard to get the stern out of the way. I missed the pylon by about three inches. Fortunately I had all boards down at the time, so handling was precise.
Unfortunately, my starboard upper stay snagged on the sign. Within a second, it twanged off the sign, but the damage was done: Both spreaders were mangled and the mast was seriously bent.
Fortunately, I didn't hit the pylon, none of the stays gave way, and the mast didn't fall (which would have been a disaster with me, my wife, and one of my daughters in the cockpit). Everything did what it was supposed to do.
Another silver lining is that I didn't replace my mast when I bent it in a mast fall three years ago, so I’m getting two mast accidents for the price of one.
Anyway, if you were worried about upgrading your forestay size, I wouldn't bother. The mast will give well before any of the stays will, as it should be.
We motored over to the boat ramp, and the admiral and I completely dismasted the boat in about 30 minutes. Of course another 26M was returning to the Marina and called over to ask what happened. Quite embarrassing.
Sorry to see that -glad no one was hurt Matt. Your quick reactions saved it from being a more serious outcome.
The biggest hit is the pride 
Now I am overly aware of just how far out the sidestays are when around tall pylons and trees.
