It was more than 20 years ago that an exceptional conjunction of
weather conditions coincided with one of the great classic events
in ocean yacht racing. The tragic chaos that was caused to the
650-mile race whose course ran from Cowes on the Isle of Wight,
around the Fastnet Rock at the southern extremity of Ireland, and
back to Plymouth, is argued about and discussed with awe to this
day. On 11th August 1979, 303 well-found yachyts crossed the
starting line. The weather forecast was not unusual for this
notoriously stormy stretch of water, but the forecast was wrong.
Experienced skippers found themselves facing the worst conditions
of wind and sea most of them had ever encountered. The storm force
10 winds caused short, mountainous, confused seas that tested boats
and men to their limits, and in some cases beyond them. Twenty four
yachts were abandoned in various states of wreck, and five sank.
Fifteen men were drowned and many injured. Eighty five boats limped
over the finish line, most of them badly damaged. Rousmaniere is an
experienced yachtsman and journalist who was a leading crew member
aboard 'Toscana', one of the American yachts in the race. His
first-hand knowledge of the conditions gives great authority to
this admirably balanced account of the disaster and heroic rescue
operation mounted at the height of the storm that saved many lives.
There have been other yachting tragedies since, but none so great.
Rousmaniere does well to remind us that part of the compulsion of
ocean racing is its raw danger, but that the sea's power is
ultimately far greater than man's. (Kirkus UK)
It began in fine weather, then suddenly became a terrifying ordeal.
A Force 10, sixty-knot storm swept across the North Atlantic with a
speed that confounded forecasters, slamming into the fleet with
epic fury. For twenty hours, 2,500 men and women were smashed by
forty-foot breaking waves, while rescue helicopters and lifeboats
struggled to save them. By the time the race was over, fifteen
people had died, twenty-four crews had abandoned ship, five yachts
had sunk, 136 sailors had been rescued, and only 85 boats had
finished the race. John Rousmaniere was there, and he tells the
tragic story of the greatest disaster in the history of yachting as
only one who has sailed through the teeth of a killer storm can.
With a new introduction by the author.
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