These are all great questions. I believe late Friday afternoon there was a period of dicey weather, but the weekend was calm. Even rough, choppy waves without the weather factor can be extremely volatile and rock and bring up and slam down a boat of that size.
I can only speculate that the wife was sending these unread texts toward the end of the day when they were supposed to be close to shore, trailoring the boat, or heading home?
It has been mentioned that the Coast Guard has been called before because of mechanical problems. I wonder how far out there they were when that happened and how much it cost them to tow? Because the Coast Guard doesn't get involved unless it's life and death, but they will contact a tow to come get you. In this particular case, if these boys were 30 miles out, they were looking at thousands of dollars.
I think the wave ft. factor gradually increased that day, and then something went wrong with the motor. I think the time spent trying to access/fix the problem may have put them in worse circumstances. If you don't have a motor in say 8' waves, you have a major problem.
Today's a good day for a Miracle!