for a racing hull. Those things lose keels all the time and I can recall a few that folded up in the middle. But they're built to race on the edge. I think they've made great strides in the last few years and many good ideas will be in future sailboat design. Hopefully the not so good ones like this, will also be learned from.

I can't recall a production sailboat disaster at sea due to catastrophic hull failure of the zillions I've followed. As we know, those boats abandoned often show up on distant shores. When they sink, it's not from an underbuilt hull, that I can think of. This racer sunk in minutes after the hull split. Gone.

Al's comment is what gave me pause. With all the things that can go wrong on a sailboat in a storm, I've never considered the hull breaking in the middle.