PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
It was more than 20 years ago that an exceptional conjunction of weather conditions coincided with one of the great classic events in ocean yacht racing. The tragic chaos that was caused to the 650-mile race whose course ran from Cowes on the Isle of Wight, around the Fastnet Rock at the southern extremity of Ireland, and back to Plymouth, is argued about and discussed with awe to this day. On 11th August 1979, 303 well-found yachyts crossed the starting line. The weather forecast was not unusual for this notoriously stormy stretch of water, but the forecast was wrong. Experienced skippers found themselves facing the worst conditions of wind and sea most of them had ever encountered. The storm force 10 winds caused short, mountainous, confused seas that tested boats and men to their limits, and in some cases beyond them. Twenty four yachts were abandoned in various states of wreck, and five sank. Fifteen men were drowned and many injured. Eighty five boats limped over the finish line, most of them badly damaged. Rousmaniere is an experienced yachtsman and journalist who was a leading crew member aboard 'Toscana', one of the American yachts in the race. His first-hand knowledge of the conditions gives great authority to this admirably balanced account of the disaster and heroic rescue operation mounted at the height of the storm that saved many lives. There have been other yachting tragedies since, but none so great. Rousmaniere does well to remind us that part of the compulsion of ocean racing is its raw danger, but that the sea's power is ultimately far greater than man's. (Kirkus UK)
