40th Anniversary of Fastnet Storm reunites Irish teams

13 March 2019
40th Anniversary of Fastnet Storm reunites Irish teams
This year is the 40th anniversary of the 1979 Fastnet Race disaster and a special commemorative event is to be held in Howth Yacht Club on the 11th of October. The anniversary lunch will reunite the many Irish sailors who took part in the race, many of whom still have frightening memories of the Force 10 storm that claimed 15 lives, sinking 5 yachts and saw 136 sailors rescued by the emergency services.
Eighteen Irish yachts took part in the race – seven from Cork, ten from Dublin and one from Northern Ireland and invitations have been extended to all of their owners, skippers and crew to attend what is likely to be an emotional reunion for all. The occasion will also remember many of the sailors who have passed away since then, not unusual given the passage of 4 decades and the broad age-profile of the offshore sailing community both then and now. 
 
The Fastnet ’79 Irish contingent was made up of the following yachts:

Admiral’s Cup

Golden Apple of the Sun

 Hugh Coveney

RCYC

 

Regardless

 Ken Rohan

RIYC

 

Inishanier

 Bramwell/ Buchanan

RUYC

 

Wild Goose

(Chartered)

RCYC

 

Silver Apple of the Moon          

(Chartered)

 RCYC

 

Class 1

Red Rock III

 Otto Glazer

 HYC

 

 

Moonduster

Denis Doyle

 RCYC

 

Class 2

Golden Leigh

Leslie Kertesz

 NYC

 

 

Irish Mist III

Archie O’Leary

 RCYC

 

Class 3

Silver Apple

Philip Watson

 HYC

 

 

Finndabar of Howth

Patrick Jameson

 HYC

 

 

Sundowner

Barry O’Donnell

 RIYC

 

 

Tom O’Shanter

Jim Butler

 RCYC

 

 

Live Wire

Derry O’Brien

 RStGYC

 

Class 4

Black Arrow

RAF (Donal McClement)

 

 

Class 5

Korsar

Robert Mollard

 RStGYC

 

 

Silver Foam

Guss Mehigan

 RIYC

 

 

Rapparee

Brian Kelly

 HYC

 
The Fastnet ’79 Irish Reunion on October 11th will be run in conjunction with the RNLI, whose lifeboats from Scilly, Baltimore, Ballycotton, Courtmacsherry, Dunmore East and Penlee formed a vital part of the largest ever peace-time maritime rescue operation that included the Irish Naval Service, the Royal Navy, Dutch Navy, US Navy, HM Coastguard and involved more than 4000 people.  The lifeboat crews spent 75 hours at sea in 60-knot winds and huge seas.
Enquiries about the event should be made to Kevin Burke c/o Howth Yacht Club