Forecast for today. Winds out of the North at 6 kts shifting to the West at 9kts. Perfect day for the Frostbite Regatta on Canyon Lake! Best of 3 races wins the regatta. First race went off without a hitch, I came in second place behind a Sabre 36. We nailed the start of the second race and headed for the windward mark. Everything is looking good and we set the pole for a downwind run to the next mark. As we round the mark we see one of the shrouds from a Catalina 30 launch off the deck. Fully expecting the mast to come down next, I ducked inside of the 30 and was prepared to take evasive action if the rig came down. They got the main down quickly and fired up the engine, we then see the headsail on the Sabre go slack and the boat almost stops. (busted shackle). He drops the headsail and continues the race. Seeing our chance to make up for the second place in race 1 we got all excited seeing the Sabre under main only. Another down wind run and we notice whitecaps on the other side of the lake. Thinking it is a 15kt puff or so, we set the pole and look to put some distance on the fleet. How about a 50kt gust? I have up full main and a 150% genoa heading downwind. Sheared the gooseneck right off so now the main is almost impossible to control and we still have the wisker pole up. Kudos to my crew, they got the pole down in record time and managed to not get knocked overboard. We then spun the boat into the wind, fired up the engine, furled the genoa, dropped the main and headed for the marina. Full throttle into this wind and I was barely making 3 kts with lots of spray coming off the port bow. The boat was heeling 10 degrees with no sails up! When all was said and done, 6 boats had suffered damage. And here I was worried we weren't going to have enough wind for the race as my boat typically does best when the winds are in the mid teens. I just don't see how the forecasters missed it by so much.