In open ocean with rough weather. Yes, everyone on the boat agreed that the rudder shaft was bent based on that observation. Neither Doane, nor the captain, directly observed anything. We don't know if that post is bent. Having dived on our boat in calmer conditions (but still bouncy), I can tell you that it is difficult to accurately diagnose what is wrong with a rudder because you cannot get close to it without being hurt.

The skins do not have to break for the rudder body to cant on its post. A rudder with a broken web that has turned and jammed into the hull at one end will look exactly like a bent post, without the post being bent at all. This is all particularly true if the rudder post does not extend the full length of the rudder. If the web broke and the rudder turned 90* sideways, then it may have bent because of the extreme force on the long lever arm containing no support from the webbing. This type of force would not be normally expected and would probably have bent a 3" post. We know one rudder broke its web.

My point is that without recovering the boat and knowing for sure what damaged occurred, one cannot go on about inappropriate rudder size or post scantlings. Speculating that the boat did not have rudder stops is silly unless you can provide evidence of that. Only two things are perfectly clear - they had poor webbing design and welds and they made errors in the installation. Nothing is known or clear at all about the rudder post itself.

I am amused that I find myself somehow defending this boat when I think there was a lot wrong with it (including that 1.5" post)! But I have a difficult time letting go bad logic, poor analogies and speculative assumptions...

Mark