The transom did not completely rip off. When the lower gudgeon pulled out, it took a chunk of the transom with it, leaving a hole big enough to put my fist through.

As far as how it happened, I don't know who would have more details than Randy Smyth and Richard Feeney, who were on the boat. I and others asked them, and both of them are absolutely sure they did not hit anything. It seems to be as much of a mystery to them as it is to the rest of us. They said they were just sailing along and the rudder suddenly ripped out of the transom. The possibility of hitting something in Blackwater Sound is pretty remote -- no rocks, reefs, shoals, sandbars. If there were a log or something in the water, you would think that other boats would have encountered it, as well. There are manatees, dolphins and rays in the sound -- but, again, the guys are certain they did not hit anything at all.

There is no way of knowing whether the transoms had been weakened at some prior time, maybe even during the R&D process and testing to develop a better rudder system for the Worrell 1000, because Randy has been working on that. So there may be extenuating circumstances.