13 months after the Cynthia Woods sunk in the Gulf of Mexico the Texas A&M Board of Regents has released its findings into the cause of the ships sinking.

Friday morning's release of the report differs from an investigation by the U.S. Coast Guard late last year.

The findings of the A&M investigation blame problems with design and manufacturing of the keel and boat for the capsizing.

In December of 2008 the Coast Guard blamed problems with the keel as well, but said it was because of several grounding incidents that damaged it and shoddy repairs that had been made on it.

Last June the boat sank in the Gulf of Mexico during a race from Galveston to Veracruz Mexico. Safety Officer Roger Stone drowned. Five others were later rescued after being in the waters for more than 24 hours.

The company that built the Cynthia Woods, Cape Fear Yacht Works expressed dissapointment in A&M's findings. Shortly after the report was released, the company spokesman Rona Garm, made the following statement:

“We question the validity of reports provided by private investigators hired by the Texas A&M Board of Regents, and we stand by the integrity of the United States Coast Guard, an independent United States federal agency who devoted countless hours and six months of in-depth investigation,”

The company also cited all of the groundings by the Cynthia Woods:

Hard groundings:
February 22, 2006
March 8, 2006
July 8, 2006
February 11, 2007
March 2007
October 25, 2007

Soft Groundings:
March 9, 2006 through June 6, 2008
February 14, 2007
January 24, 2008

Click Here to see the full report.

Click Here to see the Response to Texas A&M from Cape Fear Yacht Works