GALVESTON, Texas—A missing keel, lying somewhere in the waters off the Texas coast, may hold crucial answers to questions surrounding the sinking of a Texas A&M University racing sailboat that capsized in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month.

Texas A&M University System officials, who are investigating the sinking, said they will do whatever it takes to try to retrieve the keel. Recovery efforts, which could cost as much as $24,000 a day, are scheduled to begin Wednesday.

“Odds are not real high of the keel being located,” said Jay Kimbrough, deputy chancellor and general counsel for the Texas A&M University System, who is heading the investigation. “But we are going to work that and work it hard.”

The keel broke off just before the Cynthia Woods, a 38-foot sailboat, capsized, stranding five sailors at sea for 26 hours and killing one of the boat’s safety officer. The six-man crew, including four students and two safety officers, was competing in a 725-mile regatta from Galveston to Veracruz, Mexico.

Investigators began focusing on the keel after reviewing the vessel’s maintenance and repair records, and receiving anonymous tips through a hotline that brought attention to a March 2007 incident when the boat ran aground and was drydocked for keel repairs.

“Was this bad luck or bad design?” asked Kimbrough, who Gov. Rick Perry appointed last year to head the investigation into sexual abuse of inmates in the Texas juvenile prison system. “Machines break down. Is this one of those cases or something else?”

The 38-foot sailboat capsized just before midnight June 6, 27 miles east of Freeport. Five of the sailors—the students and one of the safety officers—floated for 26 hours in choppy seas before being rescued by the Coast Guard.

A sixth man, safety officer Roger Stone, died in the sinking. His body was later found aboard the Cynthia Woods. Salvage experts recovered the boat and towed it back to shore.

Officials believe the keel of the vessel ripped off shortly after the race began, filling the boat with water and causing it to overturn.

Since the sinking, Texas A&M System investigators have been working with the Coast Guard, which is conducting its own investigation, to determine the cause of the accident. The university team has pored through invoices, maintenance reports, and repair records for the Cynthia Woods. The ship’s log book, which might have contained important information about the boat’s maintenance and repairs, was not found.