I finally heard back from Karen on the Sarabi. “The conclusion is that the top bearing was attached to the mast with a material that failed, causing the bearing to move, which caused the mast to fail just above the bearing. Thankfully, no one was hurt. Everything above the cabin top went overboard. Cosmetic damage to the boat, but nothing serious. She’s very strong!”
It still seems kind of impossible, even with a failed bearing. I have begged for pictures of the damage.
Did it have a compression wirei nside between the top and bottom of the mast? It had to have some kind of indicator, some tensioner etc that should have told the operator that something was wrong.
am sure there was nothing like that. still waiting on more details.