It is just a swagged cable end and yours looks like it was not swagged properly (they typically hold many 100's of pounds of force).
Every sailboat has lots of these
Try calling Vetterman Exhaust Inc.
The swage didn't fail, the cable broke. The guy at Vans said that the part needs to be installed vertically or they fail. Mine is pretty much straight up and down, and it lasted 750 tach hours so I'm good with replacing it for now.
I'll check out West Marine, thanks!
-Marc
In addition to being vertical, take the extra time to make sure it doesn’t twist (PIA, but can be done).
OK, the new one is only $25 which is about 1/2 of what the parts cost at West Marine.
-Marc