I doubt the DoT, or more likely the NTSB would intervene for such a small craft. Even if life/limb were involved it'd likely not elevate to their level. Sadly sailors represent to small a cross section, and span too large a production run (years of product) to get involved in something like this.
HOWEVER, I think Catalina Direct has done a bang up job in informing the owners of the potential for failure and offered a pretty reasonably priced replacement/fix.
Keep in mind Catalinadirect gets a lions share of inquiries for parts, and likely has a pretty accurate number of how many masts have failed. My opinion is if they had more than a "few" it would warrant a look-see at what their solution was to fix the problem.
Not to derail things much, but this is NOT uncommon on OD boats (to have inherent flaws). The J/24 very notoriously suffered from some pretty spectacular sinkings. The problem was WELL KNOWN by those that sailed them. What was happening was the doors to the lazarettes were flopping open when the boat was hard over in a broach (usually a spinnaker induced broach). When they flopped open a gaping hole to down below is created, scuttling the boat in short order with even a minor wave. My Capri 25 suffers a SIMILAR design flaw in that the lazarette opens to DOWN below, there is NO WATER TIGHT cavity below it. One should take special pains to keep the lazarette door gasket in GOOD condition, and also to either A) lock the latch or B) use bull-dog latches (snap latches) to hold the doors closed. Granted you can still stand the boat on it's ear, and if your hatch boards aren't in, a roller or two could set you under water, but I've personally filled the cockpit on both my 25, and also my 22, and without those lazarette lids in place, and locked, I could easily be mounting a "recovery" of my boat, rather than sailing away in it! I'd say that's a much BIGGER design flaw than these tangs for the shrouds. Again a dismasting would be a close 2nd.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF1Av_mIrgg
Notice to all J/Boats licensees and National Class Associations:
The standard specifications of the J/24 are hereby officially modified to provide added insurance of flotation in case of knockdown in severe conditions and crew error in not securing lazarette hatches. In the past six months, three J/24s have sunk. One in Japan and one in the Gulf Stream off Florida in winds exceeding 60 knots. The boats were knocked flat and flooding occured through the cockpit hatches which were not secured. In the third instance, nineteen people were aboard and the boat was knocked flat when a strong gust caught them all on the wrong side. Again, flooding occurred through an unsecured cockpit hatch. Fortunately, no one was hurt. And we think you should, and, we want to take every precaution to avoid a recurrence"
Wow 19 people? Really?
Granted a falling mast ain't pretty, but it' will likely fall to port or starboard, not fore/aft (especially with sails up). Thank God as you hope most would be in the cockpit for such a tragedy then, not foredeck, scary, and injuries, but most would walk away from it. Scuttle a boat, in coldish water? Maybe not so lucky.
