Royal Navy archive photos of the 1979 Fastnet Race disaster rescue
A Famous Survivor Of The 1979 Fastnet Race
Royal Navy archive photos of the 1979 Fastnet Race disaster rescue
Fastnet Race 1979: Life and death decision
1979 Fastnet Race: the kindness of strangers
Royal Navy archive photos of the 1979 Fastnet Race disaster rescue
COMMENTS
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 605-mile course from Cowes direct to the Fastnet Rock and then to Plymouth via 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.
1979 Fastnet Race: The race that changed everything
By the end of the 1979 Fastnet race, 24 boats had been abandoned, five boats had sunk, 136 sailors had been rescued, and 15 sailors killed. It was and still is the deadliest yacht race in history - well ahead of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race which left six people dead.
Fastnet Race 1979: Life and death decision
In 1979 Matthew Sheahan, aged 17, was racing his father's yacht Grimalkin in the Fastnet Race. After being rolled, pitchpoled, battered and half drowned, and believing the rest of the crew to be ...
The Fastnet Yacht Race Tragedy of 1979
The story of the Force 10 gale which decimated the 1979 Fastnet race, the last of the Admiral's Cup events in that year. A massive search and rescue operatio...
Fastnet Race 1979: Why was the storm so devastating?
The forecast for the 2007 Fastnet Race showed a depression of similar central pressure (978mb) as the 1979 Fastnet storm tracking through the Irish Sea at a time when the majority of the fleet ...
The 1979 Fastnet Yacht Race
The 1979 race started on 11 August. BBC Radio shipping forecast, broadcast at 13:55 that day predicted "south-westerly winds, force four to five increasing t...
Fastnet Race
The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France.. The race is named after the Fastnet Rock off southern Ireland, which the race course rounds.Along with Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and the Newport-Bermuda Race, it is considered ...
The Fastnet Disaster: 40 years on
One of yachting's greatest challenges, the Fastnet Race is always daring, and always demanding, but in 1979 it was the scene of the greatest disaster in ocean racing history. During the night of Monday 13 August and Tuesday 14 August, storm force winds gusting to hurricane force, struck the south western approaches while the international ...
The Fastnet tragedy 30 years on
The 1979 Fastnet race ended in tragedy after a freak storm hit competitors; ... The corrected-time winner of the race was the yacht "Tenacious", owned and skippered by Ted Turner, the founder of ...
Reflections on the 1979 Fastnet Race
On 11 August 1979, the U. S. Naval Academy yacht Alliance crossed the starting line off the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, Isle of Wight, England, on the biannual Fastnet Race.Alliance was a 56-foot aluminum sloop. On board were Lieutenant Commander Chip Barber, civilian coach Bob Smyth, Ensign Kevin Mathison, eight midshipmen, and yours truly—the officer-in-charge.
1979 Fastnet Race: the kindness of strangers
The 1979 Fastnet Race. The 1979 Fastnet was one of the world's worst sailing disasters and triggered the largest ever rescue operation in peacetime. A worse-than-expected storm on the third day brought Force 10 winds which ravaged the 303-strong fleet, leaving 24 boats abandoned, five boats sunk, 136 sailors rescued and 15 dead.
BBC ON THIS DAY
1979: Freak storm hits yacht race. Dozens of yachts have been lost and at least three people killed after a freak storm blew up in the Irish Sea during the Fastnet yacht race. Hundreds of competitors have been left stranded and there have been several reports of bodies floating in the sea. Rescuers from both sides of the Irish sea are working ...
The Fastnet Disaster of 1979
August 1979 saw one of the biggest rescue operations since World War Two when a ferocious storm coincided with the Fastnet Race. Alongside the RNLI, the RAF,...
Fastnet Race 1979: Life and death decision
In 1979 Matthew Sheahan, aged 17, was racing his father's yacht Grimalkin in the Fastnet Race. After being rolled, pitchpoled, battered and half drowned, and believing the rest of the crew to be ...
Sea Your History
In the 1979 Fastnet sailing race 15 people died, many more were rescued. The Fleet Air Arm play a vital role in search and rescue operations at sea. In Aug 1979 they flew into action when the 605 mile Fastnet Yacht Race turned into a disaster. Unexpected weather conditions made the seas deadly and over 140 people were rescued.
1979 Fastnet Race: A lucky escape
Back in 1979, Ted Turner's Tenacious won the Fastnet Race, with a corrected time of 3 days 8 hours. Over… Fastnet Race 1979: Life and death decision - Matthew Sheahan's story
Death on the High Seas: The 1979 Fastnet Race
On August 11, 1979, a storm with hurricane-force winds hit the yachts competing in the race, causing chaos and devastation. The Fastnet course takes sailors out into the Atlantic and around Fastnet Rock (Jug81 / CC BY-SA 4.0) 75 boats capsized, 5 sank and 15 sailors lost their lives. Of the 303 yachts that started the race, only 86 finished.
'I've never seen waves like them'
How the sea's great fury wreaked havoc on the 1979 Fastnet Race Updated / Wednesday, 14 Aug 2019 10:37 A Royal Navy helicopter rescues the crew of the yacht Camargue during the August 1979 Fastnet ...
The Fastnet Yacht Race 1979
The Fastnet Yacht Race 1979. The story of the Force 10 gale which decimated the 1979 Fastnet race, the last of the Admiral's Cup events in that year. A massive search and rescue operation was begun as half of the 300 yachts competing went missing in a 20,000 area square of the Irish Sea. The death toll was 15, and the ramifications are still ...
Fastnet 79: Could sailing's biggest disaster ever happen again?
Photo: PA Archive. Back in 1979, Ted Turner's Tenacious won the Fastnet Race, with a corrected time of 3 days 8 hours. Over the last 30 years the average speed across the 605-mile Fastnet course ...
Learning the lessons: 1979 Fastnet race
January 13, 2015. The story of the Force 10 gale which decimated the 1979 Fastnet race is dramatic and tragic but the ramifications for sailing continued to unfold for decades. A massive search and rescue operation was begun on 13 August 1979 as half of the 300 yachts competing went missing in a 20,000 square-mile area of the Irish Sea.
Fastnet Race 1979: Restored survivor Assent heads back to the Rock
Kit has decided to mark the 40th anniversary of that deadly Fastnet by entering Assent in this year's race. "The 1979 Fastnet is not something you want to celebrate," says Kit. "It was a ...
The Fastnet Yacht Race Tragedy of 1979
The story of the Force 10 gale which decimated the 1979 Fastnet race, the last of the Admiral's Cup events in that year. A massive search and rescue operation was begun as half of the 300 yachts competing went missing in a 20,000 area square of the Irish Sea.
IMAGES
COMMENTS
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 605-mile course from Cowes direct to the Fastnet Rock and then to Plymouth via 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.
By the end of the 1979 Fastnet race, 24 boats had been abandoned, five boats had sunk, 136 sailors had been rescued, and 15 sailors killed. It was and still is the deadliest yacht race in history - well ahead of the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race which left six people dead.
In 1979 Matthew Sheahan, aged 17, was racing his father's yacht Grimalkin in the Fastnet Race. After being rolled, pitchpoled, battered and half drowned, and believing the rest of the crew to be ...
The story of the Force 10 gale which decimated the 1979 Fastnet race, the last of the Admiral's Cup events in that year. A massive search and rescue operatio...
The forecast for the 2007 Fastnet Race showed a depression of similar central pressure (978mb) as the 1979 Fastnet storm tracking through the Irish Sea at a time when the majority of the fleet ...
The 1979 race started on 11 August. BBC Radio shipping forecast, broadcast at 13:55 that day predicted "south-westerly winds, force four to five increasing t...
The Fastnet Race is a biennial offshore yacht race organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) of the United Kingdom with the assistance of the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes and the City of Cherbourg in France.. The race is named after the Fastnet Rock off southern Ireland, which the race course rounds.Along with Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race and the Newport-Bermuda Race, it is considered ...
One of yachting's greatest challenges, the Fastnet Race is always daring, and always demanding, but in 1979 it was the scene of the greatest disaster in ocean racing history. During the night of Monday 13 August and Tuesday 14 August, storm force winds gusting to hurricane force, struck the south western approaches while the international ...
The 1979 Fastnet race ended in tragedy after a freak storm hit competitors; ... The corrected-time winner of the race was the yacht "Tenacious", owned and skippered by Ted Turner, the founder of ...
On 11 August 1979, the U. S. Naval Academy yacht Alliance crossed the starting line off the Royal Yacht Squadron in Cowes, Isle of Wight, England, on the biannual Fastnet Race.Alliance was a 56-foot aluminum sloop. On board were Lieutenant Commander Chip Barber, civilian coach Bob Smyth, Ensign Kevin Mathison, eight midshipmen, and yours truly—the officer-in-charge.
The 1979 Fastnet Race. The 1979 Fastnet was one of the world's worst sailing disasters and triggered the largest ever rescue operation in peacetime. A worse-than-expected storm on the third day brought Force 10 winds which ravaged the 303-strong fleet, leaving 24 boats abandoned, five boats sunk, 136 sailors rescued and 15 dead.
1979: Freak storm hits yacht race. Dozens of yachts have been lost and at least three people killed after a freak storm blew up in the Irish Sea during the Fastnet yacht race. Hundreds of competitors have been left stranded and there have been several reports of bodies floating in the sea. Rescuers from both sides of the Irish sea are working ...
August 1979 saw one of the biggest rescue operations since World War Two when a ferocious storm coincided with the Fastnet Race. Alongside the RNLI, the RAF,...
In 1979 Matthew Sheahan, aged 17, was racing his father's yacht Grimalkin in the Fastnet Race. After being rolled, pitchpoled, battered and half drowned, and believing the rest of the crew to be ...
In the 1979 Fastnet sailing race 15 people died, many more were rescued. The Fleet Air Arm play a vital role in search and rescue operations at sea. In Aug 1979 they flew into action when the 605 mile Fastnet Yacht Race turned into a disaster. Unexpected weather conditions made the seas deadly and over 140 people were rescued.
Back in 1979, Ted Turner's Tenacious won the Fastnet Race, with a corrected time of 3 days 8 hours. Over… Fastnet Race 1979: Life and death decision - Matthew Sheahan's story
On August 11, 1979, a storm with hurricane-force winds hit the yachts competing in the race, causing chaos and devastation. The Fastnet course takes sailors out into the Atlantic and around Fastnet Rock (Jug81 / CC BY-SA 4.0) 75 boats capsized, 5 sank and 15 sailors lost their lives. Of the 303 yachts that started the race, only 86 finished.
How the sea's great fury wreaked havoc on the 1979 Fastnet Race Updated / Wednesday, 14 Aug 2019 10:37 A Royal Navy helicopter rescues the crew of the yacht Camargue during the August 1979 Fastnet ...
The Fastnet Yacht Race 1979. The story of the Force 10 gale which decimated the 1979 Fastnet race, the last of the Admiral's Cup events in that year. A massive search and rescue operation was begun as half of the 300 yachts competing went missing in a 20,000 area square of the Irish Sea. The death toll was 15, and the ramifications are still ...
Photo: PA Archive. Back in 1979, Ted Turner's Tenacious won the Fastnet Race, with a corrected time of 3 days 8 hours. Over the last 30 years the average speed across the 605-mile Fastnet course ...
January 13, 2015. The story of the Force 10 gale which decimated the 1979 Fastnet race is dramatic and tragic but the ramifications for sailing continued to unfold for decades. A massive search and rescue operation was begun on 13 August 1979 as half of the 300 yachts competing went missing in a 20,000 square-mile area of the Irish Sea.
Kit has decided to mark the 40th anniversary of that deadly Fastnet by entering Assent in this year's race. "The 1979 Fastnet is not something you want to celebrate," says Kit. "It was a ...
The story of the Force 10 gale which decimated the 1979 Fastnet race, the last of the Admiral's Cup events in that year. A massive search and rescue operation was begun as half of the 300 yachts competing went missing in a 20,000 area square of the Irish Sea.