I saw a post on another forum about this. An experienced sailor said that the rudder is primarily used for pulling into and out of port and a sailboat will sail without one. He saw a sailboat in a port in Jamaica that had fallen victim to the same problem. They jettisoned the rudder, plugged the hole from the inside, and sailed over 1,000 miles that way until they got to where they could replace it.

I'm a strong believer in the concept that good old-fashioned ingenuity will get you through a lot of tough situations.

All in all, I'm glad to hear that they made it out of this scenario alive and in relatively good shape. They had food, water, and other provisions to make it through 40 days at sea even though their planned trip may have been no longer than a week or two.