Since I know that most of us have dropped off the top of wave (whether it be 3', 6', or whatever) and experienced that crash that shudders the boat.

If one does those "blasting" off 20' waves enough, it has to take a toll on the boat.

"Broke in two" are three little words that stick in my mind also. But if there's any comfort, it didn't happen all a once, they had time to work at staying alive -- and it wasn't because that boat wasn't through a lot of abuse. In fact, I would suggest that it's probably held-up better to all that banging around that most boats could tolerate (aside from being salvaged a number of times itself).

If nothing else, it's a reminder that you shouldn't assume a open water racer hasn't been riden hard and put-away wet" a bunch of times. Sailing miles aren't all the same ;^))))

My take-away is that I'm reminded of a buddy who has sailed the same model as my J/Boat back and forth from New England to St. Martenn told me when I asked him how often he deployed his storm jib (he told me he didn't have a trysail). He said to me, that he had been in apartment building sized waves. He said our boat will average 7 knots plus with bare poles in in those winds. He advised me that his approach was to simply sail off the wind enough to maintain control (if he had to run the engine a bit at 1200 rpm, he'd do that). I asked him if he ever hoave-to? He said never.

I've never been in those conditions myself... :^)))