It was pretty windy Monday. I just checked the Dinner Key light for the time they were racing and it shows plenty of puffs over 30. When the mark boat was reporting 22 the GBR coachboat with calibrated wind instruments on an fixed 8 foot mast was reading a puff of 32. I would go with that number. As far as if the masts failed on impact or from contact with the bottom the team I rescued did not really know but they said it happened really fast. I did not see any mud on the top of their sail.
This is the first time I saw the N17s race in person and was very impressed at how easily the top teams are sailing them.