Texas A&M System officials could spend as much as $24,000 per day on efforts to determine what caused a university racing sailboat to capsize in the Gulf of Mexico.
The system has spent about $65,000 to date, officials confirmed Tuesday after answering questions about the investigation during a press conference in Galveston.
The investigation will hinge on what prompted the sinking of the Cynthia Woods on June 6, officials said. Safety officer Roger Stone died saving the lives of two crew mates, according to those who were on the boat.
Five men -- four students and another safety officer -- spent 26 hours in the water before they were rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard early June 8. The group was competing in a sailing race from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico, representing the A&M Galveston Offshore Sailing Team.
Jay Kimbrough, deputy chancellor and general counsel for the Texas A&M System, was tapped to conduct the investigation. A four-page report released Tuesday provided a history of events since the study was requested June 9 but gave no indication how long it would take to complete the work.
"At this point, we just don't know," said Frank Griffis, director of communications for the Texas A&M System. "We're in the initial stages, gathering information."
Expenses related to the investigation thus far include ship reconstruction fees, overtime pay, meals, fuel, divers and mobilization charges, according to the report issued Tuesday.
As part of the investigation, Kimbrough arrived at Texas A&M University at Galveston on June 11 to meet with school officials and the U.S. Coast Guard. The 38-foot boat on which the Aggies were sailing was drained, removed from the water and secured on a dock.
Personal effects of the crew -- including cameras, cell phones, clothing, Stone's family portrait and a plastic flask containing bourbon -- were found. A ship's log, which would have contained a comprehensive maintenance record, was not found.
Officials from the Galveston campus say that repairs were made to the ship's keel -- a device at the bottom of the boat that keeps it upright -- in March 2007.
Griffis said Tuesday that the keel, a key piece of evidence, had not been located.
"That's an important element in this investigation," he said.
A "keel recovery team" is set to leave a Galveston pier at 6 a.m. Wednesday to begin searching for the missing piece, system officials said.
The system's report issued Tuesday states that an attorney representing the Stone family, Houston-based Randy Sorrels, contacted A&M officials last week. Griffis said he had not been advised that the Stone family or any of the others who were on the boat were planning to file lawsuits.
"I'm sure that's a precautionary move on their part," he said. "We've got a lot of lawyers gathering information."
Stone's wife and other family members viewed the vessel at a temporary storage facility in Freeport on Thursday, according to the report.
Griffis added that the investigation was an important one, to ensure that similar accidents don't occur in the future.
"One of our people, a state employee, died," he said. "By law, we're required to find out why. We want to make sure this doesn't ever happen again. We've got to find out what happened. We owe it to the family."
Kimbrough will work closely with a team of officials, including a nautical architect, a marine engineer, a ship designer and a forensics expert, Griffis said.
The Coast Guard is conducting a separate investigation.
Both Texas A&M and Coast Guard officials have said their investigations were not criminal in nature.
Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Ivey said his organization's study could take at least a month to complete.
"How it occurred, we haven't made any determinations," Ivey said this week. "When the vessel was recovered, the keel was missing. Why, we don't know. We reconstruct to the greatest extent possible. We want to try to take everything into account and work to eliminate possibilities. We don't have a hypothesis now."
The ship, which was manufactured by Cape Fear Yacht Works, was delivered to the Galveston campus in 2005.
By Tuesday, four tips had been called in to a toll-free hot line set up by Texas A&M officials to assist with the investigation. Anyone with information is asked to call 888-501-3850.
• April Avison's e-mail address is april.avison@theeagle.com.
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