300 BOATS, 600 MILES...
BEYOND ENDURANCE
AND ONE DEADLY STORM

ADAM MAYERS* - Author of Sea of Dreams

On Saturday, August 11, 1979, 303 boats set sail on a 600-mile race from the south coast of England to a lighthouse off the Irish coast called Fastnet Rock. They expected a challenge, an exhilarating ride perhaps and three days of top-flight competition. What they did not expect was a fight for their lives in an event that remains the most calamitous ocean-racing challenge ever run. A weather bomb whose speed and severity eluded forecasters until it was too late descended on the shallow waters off the west coast of England and sea conditions deteriorated so quickly that slight swells built to five-storey waves, swamping boats and sweeping men away.

By the time the race was over, 15 people would die, 25 boats would be abandoned and 136 people rescued in the largest British air-sea operation since World War II. The Fastnet Race was the final event of the Admiral’s Cup, a series of races run every two years off the Isle of Wight. In 1979, the Cup was the pinnacle of the ocean-racing circuit. The celebrities that year included the American Ted Turner and former British Prime Minister Ted Heath. The fleet included 28 Canadian men - students and lawyers, an airline pilot and a doctor, a teacher, several entrepreneurs and at least two millionaires. They were on a trip to indulge their sailing passion, to do their country proud and test themselves against some of the best sailors in the world. 

Mayers has interviewed 31 Canadian, American, and British survivors and tells the story of their extraordinary feat of seamanship. The story that emerges is one of ordinary people doing extraordinary things, a tale of perseverance, courage, endurance and brotherhood at sea.

* About the Author