Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Sailing tragedy remembered “The Fastnet disaster August 14th 1979”.


August 4, 2009, I would like to share and stand still a moment by the biggest Maritime Rescue Operation ever. The Fastnet Race Disaster 1979. As a young sailor in the Royal Dutch Navy stationed on the Destroyer Hr.Ms. Overijsel, I took part of this recue mission.



“The Fastnet disaster 1979”.

The 605-mile Fastnet race is considered one of amateur yachting's greatest challenges. From the start line at Cowes, competing yachts sail down the English Channel to the end of Cornwall before striking out across the Irish Sea towards the lighthouse-topped Fastnet Rock, off the south-west tip of Ireland. Once round the rock and without stopping, the yachts re-cross the Irish Sea to finish at Plymouth. The race can take up to a week to complete.

The 1979 Fastnet began in fine weather. But within the space of 48 hours it had turned into every sailor's worst imaginable nightmare. The race was hit by a violent Force 12 Huricane storm that swept across the North Atlantic and into the southern Irish Sea, catching forecasters almost completely unawares.
For almost 24 hours, the estimated 2,700 men and women crewing the fleet were pounded by monster waves whipped by screaming 60-knot winds. Dozens of boats capsized or lost their rudders. Crews who escaped to what they assumed was the safety of an inflatable life-raft were horrified to discover that their floating shelters simply disintegrated under the force of the 40 foot waves. Lifeboats, rescue helicopters, merchant ships and the navies of at least three countries were involved in a desperate struggle to save them.

The storm wrought its vengeance in an era which was still without the modern navigational aids that today's sailing legends such as Dame Ellen MacArthur and Samantha Davies take for granted. Thirty years ago, sailors had no recourse to GPS receivers which can pinpoint a yacht's position with a degree of accuracy which allows for an error of a mere 15 feet. Neither could they rely on satellite phones, or sophisticated computerized weather-forecasting techniques, or DSC radios which can relay a yacht's position to a rescue-service command centre at the press of a button.

By the time the 1979 Fastnet had officially finished, 15 people had died, five yachts had sunk, 24 crews had abandoned ship and 136 sailors had been rescued.





In the garden of Cowes Holy Trinity Church there is now a memorial to the 15 who were lost. It is a simple sculpture made from large stones collected by Irish sailors from the barren, windswept ledges of the goal they were all aiming for – the Fastnet rock. Only 85 boats out of 303 managed to complete the race that year.

For more information about this please visit original publication at: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/general/sailing/hell-and-high-water-the-fastnet-disaster-1748093.html