A GROUP of survivors of the 1979 Fastnet yacht race are due to mark the 30th anniversary of the storm in which 15 sailors lost their lives with a gathering off the east coast later this month.
Kevin Burke, who was on board Rapparee, owned by the late Brian Kelly, during the race, said that a number of sailors from Howth Yacht Club are hosting the event off Lambay Island on August 28th.
Burke was one of six on board the class V yacht which managed to make it into Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford, after one of the worst storms in recent yacht racing history hit the fleet.
“We capsized twice, bent our mast, two people went overboard but were wearing harnesses and were recovered,” he recalled. “We were under bare poles [no sail] after the wind hit, but we had been doing well in our class.
“The first we knew of the scale of the disaster was when an RAF Sea King helicopter pilot hovering over us told us on the VHF radio that he couldn’t do anything for us as he had to pick up a body,” Mr Burke recalled.
“We were shocked to hear that anybody had been lost. I haven’t talked about it much since.
“That system hadn’t been forecast as the low pressure came in so fast. Only the French forecasters really called it correctly,” he says.
Until 1979 the race, first held in 1925, had a good safety record on its 608-mile course from Cowes up to the Fastnet lighthouse off Cape Clear island and back to Plymouth. One crewman was lost overboard in 1931.
A record 303 entries had left Cowes on August 11th, 30 years ago, but only 85 yachts finished and 15 people perished.
A memorial stone listing the 15 names was erected on Cape Clear’s North Harbour in time for the 25th anniversary which was held on the island in 2004.
The Cape Clear commemoration included a number of Irish and British survivors and members of the rescue agencies involved at the time – including the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and Naval Service.
The Baltimore, Ballycotton and Scilly lifeboats worked tirelessly with the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, Naval Service patrol ship LE Deirdre, the Dutch Navy, ships, tugs and fishing vessels during the extensive rescue effort between Land’s End and the Fastnet rock.
This year’s Fastnet race left Cowes yesterday with a number of Irish participants.
Last week, a memorial service for the 30th anniversary was held at Holy Trinity Church behind the Royal Yacht Squadron, during which the names of the 15 dead were read out.
Tightened rules and improved communications have increased the safety of the race.
Inmarsat communications head of safety Peter Blackhurst says that if the race organisers had been able to contact all the boats directly in 1979, the outcome could have been very different.
“Today’s satellite service delivers a quantum leap in data speed with an equally impressive reduction in size and weight of the hardware onboard. The equipment is comparatively inexpensive and the air time rates are similar to 3G roaming.”
Inmarsat says that all Fastnet starters have an OCTracker beacon onboard, which will transmit each boat’s position via satellite, as well as an Epirb transmission beacon.
Mr Burke says all sailors are welcome to the commemoration off Lambay, when a decanter presented to the late skipper Brian Kelly by his crew back in 1979 will be used to propose a toast.