diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index 69f960c9..c13eb233 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 *SVN*
 
+* Use a default line length in help text if line length is otherwise too small [Jamis Buck]
+
 * Fix incorrect reference to the 'setup' task in task documentation [rajeshduggal]
 
 * Don't try to kill the spawner process on deploy:stop if no spawner process exists [Jamis Buck]
diff --git a/lib/capistrano/cli/help.rb b/lib/capistrano/cli/help.rb
index a6987371..3affbffe 100644
--- a/lib/capistrano/cli/help.rb
+++ b/lib/capistrano/cli/help.rb
@@ -84,7 +84,9 @@ module Capistrano
         text.each_line do |line|
           indentation = line[/^\s+/] || ""
           indentation_size = indentation.split(//).inject(0) { |c,s| c + (s[0] == ?\t ? 8 : 1) }
-          lines = line.strip.gsub(/(.{1,#{output_columns - indentation_size}})(?:\s+|\Z)/, "\\1\n").split(/\n/)
+          line_length = output_columns - indentation_size
+          line_length = MIN_MAX_LEN if line_length < MIN_MAX_LEN
+          lines = line.strip.gsub(/(.{1,#{line_length}})(?:\s+|\Z)/, "\\1\n").split(/\n/)
           if lines.empty?
             formatted << "\n"
           else