FACTUAL
Fastnet
Saturday 21 January 2006 20:00-21:00 (Radio 4 FM)
Veteran broadcaster and transatlantic yachtsman David Lomax employs the BBC's sound archive to retell the story of the Fastnet Race 1979 - the worst disaster in ocean racing history.
On August 11, 303 yachts began the 600-mile race from the Isle of Wight, round the Fastnet Rock off the Irish Coast and back to Plymouth. A small depression, that had started in the American Mid-West, deepened at a catastrophic rate and hit the fleet in the early hours of the morning.
By the time the winds subsided, 15 people were dead, 24 crews had abandoned their yachts and five craft had sunk. 136 sailors were rescued and just 85 boats finished the race.
