Touching the Water

S AFETY AT •• This dramatic painting SEA captures the moment when the yacht Lorelei comes alongside to res- cue the crew of Griffin IV after it sank in the 1979 Fastnet Race. the biggest shock, I am sure, comes in a Touching storm. That is where we’re all Liams in a new boat in strange waters. Survive that storm, learn from that storm, and you are the Water a better, safer, happier sailor. In the summer of 1979, 15 sailors were Forty years ago, in August 1979, I—and lost at sea during a brutal edition of the many hundreds of other sailors who made Fastnet Race. On the 40th anniversary a hobby of touching the water—had a par- of that infamous storm, a survivor ticularly meaningful and often- shocking recounts the meaningful changes that experience when a fleet of modern yachts happened in its aftermath. racing off England and Ireland was 52 surprised by a storm of hurricane propor- 53 tions. Five boats sank, many more were seriously damaged, and 15 racing sailors died in the Irish Sea. Many critics despaired for the future of ocean racing, and yet, instead of slip- everal years ago, I learned ping away under the shadow of Fastnet something profound by ’79, our pastime gathered forces and observing my then-toddler re-created itself in a whole new image. A grandson, Liam, wearing a sport famous mostly for dramatic daring life jacket, step aboard his was transformed into a community that Suncle’s catboat for the first time. His eyes respected doubt, conducted testing, and twinkling in expectation, he set out on thoughtfully accepted a fact that many a tour of the cockpit, spinning a block sailors had stubbornly denied, which here, pulling a sheet there, and cheerfully is that sailing can often be risky. I call swinging the tiller from side to side. this new perception the Safety at Sea Then he got adventurous. Leaning Movement. I have participated in it as over the rail, he asked, “Uncle Will, may I a sailor, writer and instructor, and I was touch the water?” present at its creation. “Yes, Liam,” Will replied, with If you are one of the thousands of avuncular authority. “But be careful.” sailors who attend a safety-at-sea seminar And so Liam carefully touched the (and there are a lot of them—41 in the water. He was becoming a sailor. A truism U.S. alone in 2018), you are part of this of the life we sailors have chosen is that, revolution that began 40 years ago in the at heart, we are equally adventurous and wake of the savage Fastnet storm (see “Be wary—tugging on bowlines, testing life- Safe,” page 57) . The Royal Ocean Racing lines, asking questions. Our biggest risk, I Club’s Fastnet Race is sailed in odd-num- think, comes when we make declarations. bered years on a 605-nautical-mile course You’re probably familiar with this change from the English Channel port of Cowes, in perspective and personal rules if you’ve to and around Fastnet Rock, off the coast moved from racing to cruising, or from of Ireland, and back to the Channel port coastal sailing to ocean adventures, or if of Plymouth. The 1979 fleet had 303 you’ve taken up singlehanding or moved entries from 22 countries, including 12 to a much larger or smaller boat. But American boats that had been sailed or BAGLEY/PPL LAWRENCE TOUCHING THE WATER shipped across the Atlantic. naval port for centuries, so this pier must I was aboard a strong, reliable boat have served many hundreds of times as a from Long Island Sound named Toscana, widow’s walk. But I wonder if ever in its a Sparkman & Stephens-designed Swan history it had supported so many people 47 sloop that its owner, Eric Swenson, whose hearts were aching. We secured and a fine crew had raced across the Toscana to a float, cleaned it up, and came Atlantic. I had often sailed with them ashore, walking through that sad crowd. back in America, and now I joined them Soon after, I was approached by an in England. In our last day race before English yachtsman and publisher named the Fastnet start, with Eric taking a break Peter Johnson. We had exchanged ashore, I was at the wheel in a sprint correspondence about some aspect of around the Solent, the waterway off sailing history, but on this day, he made a Cowes, in brutal weather that prepared us statement that was in part a question. He well for the big storm to come. Not only told me, “You, John, are going to write a were the demands on the boat, the gear, book about this, and I will publish it.” He the crew’s teamwork and clear communi- did, and so did my skipper, Eric Swenson, cations relentless, but we also rescued a out of his New York publishing house, man from the water after he was thrown W.W. Norton & Company. After signing from his small powerboat. in at the press center, I began what turned During the Fastnet Race’s second night, into two months of conducting interviews we were battered by a surprise westerly of other Fastnet veterans, all of them as gale that blew for many hours at the level exhausted and sad as I was. Only 85 of the of Force 10 on the Beaufort Scale of Wind 303 boats that started the race finished Forces. This scale provides wind speed it. Nineteen boats were abandoned by (here 40 to 60 knots), wave height (29 their crews. Five boats sank. Fifteen to 37 feet) and a one-word summary of sailors died (and another four in a boat conditions (“Storm”). The blow caused that was following the race). More sailors massive damage to the Fastnet fleet, at great risk were saved by heroic actions capsizing and breaking many boats. There of Royal Navy helicopters, the lifeboats was plenty of water to both touch and of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute, be cautious about. Most striking and and other yachts and several commercial nasty were the waves, unpredictable in vessels. 54 shape and size, and heaving great sheets Plenty of “touch the water” questions 55 of dense foam as the wind’s force kept were being asked even before the last climbing and its direction kept shifting. Fastnet survivor staggered to the finish. Steering in and around these monsters Because few hopes are more universal was physically and mentally exhausting as than the wish that a tragedy will somehow the wind kept shifting and the waves kept have a happy ending, I’m never surprised building. when asked if something good came Heeling far over with a heavy weather out of the 1979 Fastnet Race. The fact helm, headed more or less in the direction is that much was learned on the water, of Fastnet Rock under a mainsail with and especially in subsequent reports, two reefs tied in and a moderate-size His crew already safely hoisted aloft by a helicopter crew, the skipper of the In a famous image from the tragedy, airman Peter Harrison looks up from the investigations and the Royal Ocean jib, Toscana was so overpowered that it British yacht Camargue, streaming warps, prepares to join them. deck of Grimalkin moments before crewman Nick Ward is successfully rescued. Racing Club’s detailed questionnaire sent became necessary to shorten the sail to 265 captains. From all this came a vast further. Our thoughts naturally ran to Eric wisely decided that we rig a small jib any weather, much less a Force 10 gale: to 6, 7 and, at times, even 8 knots under under only a tiny storm jib. database about the race. setting storm sails, except that we did not called the forestaysail on an inner forestay easy, clear communication. Without it, its tiny rig, on course to Fastnet Rock “What could that little boat be doing A concern that shocked all sailors was have any. After the race management for just forward of the mast. Now seen crew organization can easily fall apart and very easy to steer, with only occa- out here on such a night?” Eric exclaimed. that though keel boats are presumed to some reason announced that they were mostly on classics, this rig with two stays with misunderstandings that lead to sional blasts of severe weather helm. Boat I would later learn that this was an be stable enough to stay upright, fully not required, we (like many crews) opted forward—the long headstay to the bow, mistakes and injuries. drivers are like auto tires: If they wear out English couple who had touched those one-fourth of the Fastnet boats capsized. to save weight by leaving them behind in and the shorter inner forestay secured fa- Such was not about to happen on quickly, you’ll crash. waters many times, and were taking their Why and how that happened to so many Cowes. What we did do turned out to be ther back—was widely used on Sparkman Toscana, thanks to Suze Noyes, our chief Out of the dark ahead appeared the annual summer cruise. keel boats that had been deemed stable surprisingly effective, and worth consider- & Stephens boats of that generation. sail-trimmer. Securely clipped on, she loom of the light on Fastnet Rock. A few Shortly after sunrise, as we surfed back was closely studied by naval architects ation by any crew in rough weather. With After we all talked through the steps, our knelt in a field of spray near a winch, the hours later, the light was close enough toward England, Johnny checked the and researchers who, in towing tanks everybody hooked to the boat with safety brave deckhands made their way forward new sail’s jib sheet in one hand, a winch to reflect down the companionway to radio and somberly announced, “Men are and many other related experiments, harnesses, we first tied in the third reef in on the windward rail, nearly crawling with handle in the other, and her eyes alertly the galley, where I was going off watch, dying out here.” developed ways to ease the risk through the mainsail.

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