It is heard that the sinking of USA-77 resulted from the failure of the permanent internal rudder post, the mechanism that links the top bearing to the bottom bearing and rudder flange. The flange arrangement used for bolting the steel rudder post to the lower bearing, remained intact and rigid, causing the entire bottom rudder bearing and housing to rip-out taking a generous portion of the hull with it. The failure created an exceedingly large orifice (not to be confused with Oracle) thereby allowing instant flooding too massive for the crew to keep up with by moving weight in an attempt to raise the holed section above the ever-rising water line. Water quickly inundated the yacht's forward sections and, before the problem was even fully understood, USA-77 rapidly went down by the bows, impacting the sea floor hard -- the bow struck first followed immediately by her almost 20 ton bulb.

The result is this buckling and impact forces, the forward bulkheads were essentially 'crushed', the foredeck delaminated, and enormous creases appeared at the shear forward of the shrouds akin to crushing an empty beer can. It is doubtful the mast structure evaded collateral damage and unquestionably the entire keel foundational structure has been comprised and is no longer safe.

In the building trades there is a caveat that provides that it is easier to start from scratch attempt to fix someone else's mistakes. Team DC should save the cost of shipping the hulk of USA-77 to New Zealand; he'd be better off shipping his 1995 Stars & Stripes, USA-34 to Auckland. At least then he could make money by giving pony rides without endangering life (or his limited resources) trying to fix someone's serious mistakes.