There is, or was, a society in Paris whose members, several times a year, delight to cock a snook at fate. The Friday the Thirteenth Club exists for the sole purpose of dispelling any notion that ill-luck attends days like today; whenever one comes along, enthusiastic members hold a party, and dance under ladders, shatter mirrors, and prance around indoors with umbrellas defiantly unfurled and opened.
Strange as it may seem, they have the opportunity more often than they ought. When Pope Gregory (the 13th, as it happens) introduced a new calendar in 1572 to replace the old Julian system, its cycle of 400 years, or exactly 20,871 weeks, contained a hidden bias towards certain days of the week landing on certain dates of the month. There are 688 Friday-the-13ths in the 400 year cycle, but only, for example, 684 Thursday-the-13ths; in fact the 13th of the month is slightly more likely to be a Friday than any other day.
However, 20 years ago today, August 13th was on a Monday, and is remembered as the unluckiest day ever in the history of ocean yachting. On August 11th, 1979, yachts competing for the Admiral's Cup departed Cowes on the Isle of Wight on a trip that should have taken them around the Fastnet Rock and back to Plymouth. On August 13th, the fleet was hit by winds of hurricane force, with devastating results for many of the 300 boats.
Ironically, the main difficulties expected by competitors in the early part of their voyage were sea-fog and insufficient wind; gales were forecast for the 14th, but they were not, at that stage, expected to be anything unusual. Even history was reassuring: the only previous fatality in the Fastnet Race had been a single yachtsman lost in 1931, and the only really rough weather experienced had been in 1957 when 29 of the 41 starters failed to make the finishing line.
But two days into the 1979 race, a depression moving eastwards across the Atlantic intensified explosively. By midday on August 13thit had reached a position 300 miles west-south-west of Ireland; winds of hurricane force reached the Fastnet area just before 11 p.m. that evening, and during the next six hours winds of up to 80 m.p.h. lashed the race area, generating waves of 40 to 50 ft in height. Even the most strongly built yachts were transformed into fragile toys at the mercy of the cruel elements.
When normality returned, it was found that 23 yachts had been abandoned or had sunk at sea, and 18 participants in the ill-fated race had lost their lives.