Cupcake's Christmas Adventure in Shallow Bay (or how to break a mooring ball)

On mooring ball before the ring snapped 

Took Cupcake to Soucia Island's Shallow Bay (protected from SouthEast winds that were forecast) and grabbed a mooring ball with my 1/2 inch amsteel line. I had covered the amsteel with chafe protection. We made sure the mooring ball wouldn't drag just like you would test an anchor. Christmas day the winds picked up and swung to the west- the highest we caught on the instruments was 43 knots or about 50 miles an hour. The dingy flipped over and it was too rough in the anchorage to try and turn it right side up. My friend Dean (who Santa brought me for Xmas) sat outside to keep an eye on things once the wind shift happened. He turned on Cupcakes motor (in neutral) to make sure she was happy. Once she was warmed up and he was confident she would start if all hell broke loose he turned her off. Then all hell broke loose. I heard a pop. Dean said we were loose. I grabbed my life jacket and ran to the bow. We were heading backwards to shore fast. Dean Motored into the waves ( Cupcakes engine could get through them) and I dropped her anchor. We put out all our scope and she held--.hurrah for the Rocna (finally). It set and dug in deep. We put out all 260' and put down 2 kettle balls. We got out another anchor and tied it to the bow and zip tied it to the bow roller ready to deploy if the Rocna broke free. We got out the life raft since the dingy was upside down. All was well. Dean said most ordinary cruisers would have ended up on the beach or rocks. Once things settled down I checked her amsteel line. The chafe guard was torn through but the amsteel was fine. The weld on the mooring ball ring had given out. Now one of the mooring balks in Shallow bay is missing it's ring. With Dean onboard I wasn't even scared. We worked perfectly together.