A sailor's tale of endurance from the eye of the storm

While there will be celebrations in Limerick over yachtsman Ger O'Rourke's victory in the Rolex Fastnet Race, spare a thought for a survivor of the disastrous 1979 Fastnet race who is still living with his nightmares. Nick Ward harboured ambitions from childhood to compete in the classic yachting challenge, but never dreamed his inner resources would be put to such a test.

Ward was born in the Hampshire yachting mecca of Hamble, and was taught to sail at the age of four. When he was just 15, he suffered a brain haemorrhage and his parents were given a 50-50 chance of him surviving surgery. He was left with a left-sided weakness and epilepsy, but was back clambering into a dinghy just 12 months later.

Eight years on, he was still sailing, racing and working in a riverside chandlery, but had given up his dream of joining the merchant navy due to his medical condition. In June 1979, he was invited by one of his customers, David Sheahan, to compete in a series of races as a qualifier for the Fastnet.

The crew of Sheahan's Grimalkin was successful, and a month later was preparing for the 608-mile contest. Ward could hardly believe it - a neighbour, Dick Langton, who had competed in three Fastnets, would often describe the fickle meteorological conditions around the rock and the stunning sunsets.

The weather pattern which marked out the 1979 Fastnet as the worst disaster in modern offshore yachting - sinking five boats and claiming 15 lives - has been well documented. Several Irish yachts were among those caught up in the maelstrom which followed a rapid dip in the barometer. However, in 27 years Ward has said little or nothing publicly about his own experience - although he was the last survivor to be flown to shore.

Now, in a book which he has written with Irish film-maker Sinéad O'Brien, Ward describes how he and his five colleagues endured a series of capsizes in 80-knot winds, a dismasting, and the loss of their skipper, before Ward and fellow crewman Gerald Winks were left for dead. In fact, Winks didn't make it, and his name is one of the 15 carved on a commemorative stone on Cape Clear island, Co Cork.

Ward endured many hours without his vital medication, holding conversations with his dead colleague to keep himself alive. "Stay with the boat" had been his father's wise advice - but by the time his three colleagues had left on the liferaft he had little choice. His account of sheer endurance, and his judgment of his colleagues, bears haunting resemblance to mountaineer Joe Simpson's Touching the Void.

Left for Dead by Nick Ward with Sinéad O'Brien is published by A&C Black at £17.99.