1979 жылғы «Fastnet» жарысының қасіреті

1979 yacht disaster south of England

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. A worse than expected storm on the third day of the race wreaked havoc on the 303 yachts that started the biennial race, resulting in 19 fatalities (15 yachtsmen and four spectators). Emergency services, naval forces, and civilian vessels from around the west side of the English Channel were summoned to aid what became the largest ever rescue operation in peace time. This involved some 4,000 people, including the entire Irish Naval Service's fleet, lifeboats, commercial boats, and helicopters.

The 1979 race started on 11 August. The BBC Radio Shipping Forecast, broadcast at 13:55 that day predicted "south westerly winds, force four to five increasing to force six to seven for a time." By 13 August, winds were reported at Force 6, with gusts of Force 7. Forecasters were predicting winds of Force 8. The leading boat, Kialoa, trailed closely by Condor of Bermuda, was on course to break the Fastnet record set eight years earlier.

A large depression, known as "low Y", formed over the Atlantic Ocean during the weekend of 11–12 August. On 13 August it began to intensify rapidly and turn northeastwards, reaching about 200 nautical miles southwest of Ireland. By the 14th, the low was centred over Wexford. Land based weather stations reported gale force winds, with the strongest winds out to sea over the race area. The Meteorological Office assessed the maximum winds as Force 10 on the Beaufort scale; many race competitors believed the winds to have reached Force 11. The lowest pressure was 979 hPa.

Over 13–14 August, of the 303 yachts that started, 24 were abandoned, of which five were lost and believed to be sunk, due to high winds and severe sea conditions. and tankers. Rescue efforts began after 6:30 am on 14 August, once the winds had dropped to severe gale Force 9. Fifteen sailors died, at least 75 boats capsized and five sank. Adopting heaving to as a storm tactic proved to be a good preventive of capsize and turtling during the race. Lin Pardey wrote that none of the yachts which hove to were capsized or suffered any serious damage, but the official inquiry makes no such conclusion. One Fastnet participant, John Rousmaniere, wrote that
If there is a fault in this debate, it is that the factions sometimes say that one tactic or piece of gear is always right, regardless of the boat and the conditions. There is nothing always about a storm at sea except its danger. The disaster resulted in a major rethink of racing, risks and prevention. The coastguard requested support resulting in a Nimrod aircraft from RAF Kinloss being ordered to the scene to act as the Scene of Search Coordinator. As the scale of the disaster became apparent other rescue assets were requested and was ordered to the scene taking over as the Scene of Search Coordinator on arrival at 17:30 on 14 August.

Over 4000 people aided in the rescue efforts. The Royal Navy coordinated efforts to find around 80 vessels and rescue 136 crew members.

Morningtown, Rodney Hill's Oyster 39 acted as the RORC escort and radio relay boat and was responsible for relaying the positions of the racing fleet.