The depth on the ocean side varies greatly along key largo. While it may have been deep enough to turtle the boat, that may not have been possible. There is a boat from this race a couple years ago where a crew member was seperated. A veteran distance racer was left aboard his N20 (same boat as this incident). He tried, unsuccessfully, to turtle the boat. The buoyance in the mast was too great to get the boat to go turtle.