No one seems to know what could have caused a 8,400-pound ballast bulb on Coyote's keel to fall off.

He is having a new ballast bulb attached to the yacht's 14-foot keel.

All of the yachts belonging to cup finalists carry underwater wings, but the appendages are attached to the boats' ballast bulbs, not to their steering mechanisms.

But on keels with ballast bulbs or other appendages, kelp can form clumps big enough to slow down the boat.

The sailboat's 14-foot keel and ballast bulb pivot sideways underneath the hull.

But he said the boat's 8,400-pound ballast bulb, designed to keep the boat upright, was missing.

Davis shipped the battered hull back to Rhode Island, where inquiries over the missing ballast bulb turned heartbreak into blame.

He had also run the yacht aground several times, immersing the all-important ballast bulb in mucky sea bottoms before leaving on his voyage.

"Their ballast bulbs are a little heavier, the boats are a little lighter, and the sails are a little stiffer."

Koch said this week that in December he sent America into the shed for a major refit with new ballast bulb, keel and rudder.