1979 Fastnet Race

The 1979 Fastnet Race was the 28th Royal Ocean Racing Club's Fastnet Race, a yachting race held generally every two years since 1925 on a course from Cowes direct to the Fastnet Rock and then to Plymouth passing south of the Isles of Scilly. In 1979, it was the climax of the five-race Admiral's Cup competition, as it had been since 1957. Immediately, and ever since, the 1979 race has been known worldwide as the deadliest in yachting history.

A worse-than-expected European windstorm on the third day of the race wreaked havoc on the 303 yachts that started the biennial race, resulting in 21 fatalities (15 yachtsmen and 6 spectators) during the early morning hours of 14 August in the Celtic Sea. Emergency services, naval forces, and civilian vessels from around the west side of the English Channel were summoned to aid what became the largest ever rescue operation in peace-time. This involved some 4,000 people, including the entire Irish Naval Service's fleet, lifeboats, commercial boats, and helicopters.

Meteorological history

The 1979 race started on 11 August. The BBC Radio Shipping Forecast, broadcast at 13:55 that day, predicted "south-westerly winds, force four to five increasing to force six to seven for a time." By 13 August, winds were reported at Force 6 with gusts of Force 7, and forecasters were predicting winds of Force 8. The leading boat, Kialoa, trailed closely by Condor of Bermuda, was on course to break the Fastnet record set eight years earlier.

A large depression named "low Y" formed over the Atlantic Ocean during the weekend of 11–12 August. On 13 August it began to intensify rapidly and turn northeastwards, reaching about southwest of Ireland. By the 14th, the low was centred over Wexford. Land-based weather stations reported gale-force winds, with the strongest winds out to sea over the race area. The UK Meteorological Office assessed the maximum winds as Force 10 on the Beaufort scale; the majority of race competitors estimated the winds to have reached or exceeded Force 11. The official inquiry reported wind speeds reaching with little or no advance warning, and wave heights reaching in conflicting directions, conditions that were especially destructive for the smaller sailboats. The lowest recorded pressure was 979 hPa.

Disaster and rescue mission Over 13–14 August, of the 303 yachts that started, 24 were abandoned, of which five were lost and believed to be sunk, due to high winds and severe sea conditions. The Daily Telegraph (15 August 1979, p. 1) described the situation, where "Royal Navy ships, RAF Nimrod jets, helicopters, lifeboats, a Dutch warship HNLMS Overijssel and other craft picked up 125 yachtsmen whose boats had been caught in Force 11 violent storm strength gusts midway between Land's End and Fastnet". The effort also included tugs, trawlers,yachtingworld.com: "Fastnet 79 See a map of the rescue", 12 October 2009 and tankers.

The coastguard requested support, resulting in a Nimrod aircraft from RAF Kinloss being ordered to the scene to act as the Scene of Search Coordinator. As the scale of the disaster became apparent, other rescue assets were requested and was ordered to the scene, taking over as the Scene of Search Coordinator on arrival at 17:30 on 14 August.

Fifteen competitors died in the race; at least 75 boats capsized and five sank. Adopting heaving to as a storm tactic proved to be a good preventive of capsize and turtling during the race. Lin Pardey wrote that none of the yachts which hove to were capsized or suffered any serious damage, but the official inquiry makes no such conclusion. One Fastnet participant, John Rousmaniere, wrote:

The disaster resulted in a major rethink of racing, risks and prevention. Many safety improvements followed.

Finishing yachts The handicap winner was the yacht Tenacious, designed by Sparkman & Stephens and owned and skippered by Ted Turner. The winner of line honours was the SV Condor of Bermuda, skippered by Peter Blake, which gained around 90 minutes on the leader, the SV Kialoa, after rounding the Fastnet rock, by the calculated risk of setting a spinnaker sail in the high wind conditions. Jim Kilroy of the Kialoa had broken his ribs and there was damage to the yacht's runners. SV Condor of Bermuda broke the Fastnet record by nearly eight hours (71h 37m 23s).

Handicap results (first three in each class) Class Position Yacht Designer/Type/LOA (yacht type) Owner (sailed by) Corrected time hh:mm:ss 0 1 Tenacious SS 61 Ted Turner 93:44:19 0 2 Condor of Bermuda Sp 77 R. Bell 97:57:24 0 3 Kialoa J. B. Kilroy 98:03:40 1 1 Red Rock IV Fr E. Mandelbaum 98:35:05 1 2 Acadia Fr B. Keenan 99:17:53 1 3 Gregal M. Peche 99:52:39 2 1 Eclipse PtR39 J. C. Rogers 97:05:27 2 2 Jubile VI Pt 42 H. Hamon 97:40:15 2 3 Impetuous Hd G. Lambert and J. Crisp 97:53:53 3 1 Revolution Fn 37 J. L. Fabry 97:42:53 3 2 Blue Bird NI 34 A. Gerard 110:48:52 3 3 Ceil III MW 40 W. Turnbull 116:33:18 4 1 Black Arrow UFO 34 Royal Air Force S.A. 110:35:10 4 2 Samsara Fr 33 Madame O. Trans-Van-Dom 110:44:19 4 2 Lorelei SSH36 M. Catherineau place awarded by Race Committee under rule 12 for loss of time in rescuing crew from yacht Griffin. 4 3 Mahuri UFO 34 G. M. Lowson 122:03:38 5 1 AssentAssent was the only Class 5 yacht to finish Contessa 32 W. and A. Ker 116:58:551979 Fastnet Race Results & Season Point Winners, Royal Ocean Racing Club

Notes

Yachts that did not finish Of the 303 starters, only 86 finished. There were 194 retirements and 24 abandonments (five of which were "lost believed sunk").

Early press reports were often confused. The Daily Telegraph (16 August 1979, p. 3) reported that 69 yachts did not finish.

Accanito of France, broken rudder. Towed. Allamader. Abandoned. Alpha II Amanda Kulu Andiano Robin Angustura Animal Ariadne. Abandoned. * Arkadina Asteries Autonomy. Towed to Dunmore East. Ballydonna Battle Cry Billy Bones. Abandoned. Blue Dolphin Bonaventure of Britain. Abandoned. Cabadah Ocean Wave Option Callirhaex 3. Abandoned. Camargue of Britain. Abandoned. Casse Tete Charioteer of Britain. Sunk. Combat II. Retired to Cork. Corker Crazy Horse Détente Double O Two Enia Evergreen Farthing Fiestina Tertia. Abandoned. * Finndabar. Abandoned. Gan. Abandoned. Gekko Golden Apple of Ireland, disabled. Abandoned. Crew rescued by Royal Navy Wessex Helicopter. Golden Leigh Good in Tension A High Tension 36. Two knockdowns. Retired from race. Sailed to Crosshaven, Cork. Towed within the harbour by fishing vessel Mona Lisa. Griffin Abandoned – crew rescued from liferaft by Lorelei Grimalkin. Abandoned and subsequently recovered. Gringo. Reported as 'believed sunk'. Gunslinger. Broken rudder stock. Hestral. Abandoned. Crew of 6 rescued by Royal Navy helicopter. Hoodlum Impetuous Innovation Jan Pott of Flensburg, Germany. Broken mast. Juggernaut Kamisado, a UFO 34. Apart from two knockdowns Kamisado coped effectively with the storm and retired to Plymouth. Kestel. Abandoned. Korsar La Barbarelle Little Ella Magic of Britain. Sunk. Maligawa III. Abandoned. Marionette VII Mexxanini Mordicus Belgique, won 1981 Morning Glory Mulligatawny Mutine Pachena Pegasus Ocean Wave Option2 of France, Granville Pepsi of Scotland. Broken rudder stock. Retired, no steerage. Several knockdowns. No communications. After 24 hrs towed by a French trawler into Kinsale. Pepsi of Holland Pinball Wizard Polar Bear of Britain. Sunk. Crew rescued. Polyhymnia. Retired and made her own way back to Plymouth. Regardless of Cork, broken rudder. Assisted by . Towed by Barnett-class lifeboat . Samurai II Sandettie, a UFO 34 which was rolled, dismasted and swamped. However, Sandettie's crew were able to jury rig emergency rigging and sail to Land's End, whence they were towed to Penzance. Scaldis Scaramouche. Retired and made her own way back to Plymouth. Steve Cross remarked: "Although we hadn't the satisfaction of being one of the 88 which rounded 'the rock' we were content in knowing that we had brought the boat and ourselves back in one piece." Schuttevaer of Holland Silver Apple of Howth: lost steering, assisted by , made a jury steering rig, retired to Courtmacsherry under her own power. Sinndkabar Skat Sophia Sophie B Tam O'Shanter Tarantula of France Thunderer RAOC Trophy. Abandoned. Trumpeter. Retired after two knockdowns. Tiderace IV. Abandoned. Wild Goose of Singapore Yachtman of Spain Zap

Craft that assisted the rescue mission Over 4,000 people aided in the rescue efforts. The Royal Navy coordinated efforts to find around 80 vessels and rescue 136 crew members. Many organizations made key contributions:

Coastguard Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, HMCG Land's End, UK MRCC Falmouth, UK MRCC Shannon, Ireland MRSC Brixham, UK Cross A, France

Royal Navy HMS Anglesey, Island class patrol vessel , frigate (Scene of Search Coordinator) , yacht (Leander-class frigate) RMAS Rollicker A502, ocean-going salvage tug , fast fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary 15 Royal Navy helicopters from RNAS Culdrose and RNAS Prestwick, including Westland Sea Kings, 25 sorties for 110 hrs 45 mins Westland Lynxes, 10 sorties for 20 hrs 55 mins Westland Wessexes, 27 sorties for 62 hrs 35 mins

Royal Netherlands Navy , destroyer (race guardship)

Irish Naval Service , Deirdre class offshore patrol vessel

United States Navy , submarine tender, Holy Loch, Scotland

Lifeboats These RNLI lifeboats spent 75 hours at sea in winds: RNLB Guy and Claire Hunter (ON 926), , Isles of Scilly RNLB The Robert (ON 955), , County Cork RNLB Ethel Mary (ON 949), , County Cork RNLB Sir Samuel Kelly,, , County Cork RNLB St Patrick (ON 1035), , County Waterford RNLB Solomon Browne (ON 954) Cornwall

Other RNLI Lifeboats called include , , , , , and .

Royal Air Force Three helicopters Four Nimrods from RAF St Mawgan in Cornwall, and one from RAF Kinloss in Scotland

Irish Air Corps Beechcraft Kingair maritime patrol Alouette helicopter

Royal Ocean Racing Club Morningtown, Rodney Hill's Oyster 39 acted as the RORC escort and radio relay boat and was responsible for relaying the positions of the racing fleet.

Fatalities and memorials Between drowning and exposure, the storm killed 15 yachtsmen who were competing in the race, the deadliest in yachting history:

Paul Baldwin Robin Bowyer SLt Russell Brown David Crisp Peter Dorey Peter Everson Frank Ferris William Le Fevre John Puxley Robert Robie David Sheahan SLt Charles Steavenson Roger Watts Gerrit-Jan Williahey or Willerink Gerald Winks

In addition, the storm killed 6 observers who were aboard two yachts shadowing the fleet to view the race: Olivia Davidson, John Dix, Richard Pendred, Peter Pickering (aboard Bucks Fizz) Denis Benson, David Moore (aboard Tempean)

The Fastnet Race Memorial at Holy Trinity Church, Cowes, Isle of Wight, was created in 2009 and lists 19 fatalities: the 15 competitors and the observers from Bucks Fizz. A similar memorial at Cape Clear Island harbour was first created in 2003, then updated in 2015 to list all 21 fatalities, including the observers from Tempean whose names were not widely publicized until then.

See also 1998 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race

References Footnotes

Sources

Fairchild, Tony (14 August 1979). "Kiaola heads for Fastnet record". The Daily Telegraph, p. 26 Fairchild, Tony (15 August 1979). "Killer wind gives Condor record". The Daily Telegraph, p. 29 Fairchild, Tony (16 August 1979). "Fastnet may be limited to fewer Yachts". The Daily Telegraph, p. 3.

Wettern, Desmond (20 August 1979). "Fastnet race rescue operation involved 4,000 people". The Daily Telegraph, p. 2.

1979 Fastnet Race

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