Strange Failure Today

So I'm sailing along in a decent wind (gusting to 15k) today and notice one rudder is at an lateral angle it shouldn't be at unless somethings broken. I put in at a nearby island and sure enough, the upper gudgeon is broken: the circular part is still on the pin, but it separated from the flat parts which attach to the boat. I would have bet very large sums of money that that part would never fail. I inspected it recently and it was fine and have had no damage or significant shock to the rudders since then. Very mystified. I know this is far fetched, but I wonder if the "Hobie Hum", and my boat sings loudly, could aggrevate a long ago injury and cause it to fail? Naaa

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Mims, FL

Hobie updated the gugeon design a long time ago (mid 1980's) to correct the issue of gugeons breaking. If you've got an older boat, you should install the new gugeons. If you've already got the new gugeons installed, then just be happy the gugeon broke and not the whole transom. Unlikely that rudder humm caused the rudder to break, but you should check to make sure the gugeon screws are tight.

sm