Fifteen people died and dozens of boats were lost. On This Day spoke to five of the survivors.

Heath's right-hand man
Owen Parker (front) was the tactician and crew boss on one of the race favourites, Morning Cloud, the yacht owned and skippered by former British Prime Minister Sir Edward Heath.

Owen sailed with Sir Edward for 12 years and was the man trusted to take the helm when the hurricane-force winds overtook the race fleet.

"Within 20 seconds the wind went from 30 to 60 knots"

Prize winner
Fiona Wylie (standing) has only missed one Fastnet Race since 1971. In 1979 she was on the 32-foot Assent - the smallest boat to round the Fastnet Rock and complete the course.

Their trophy for winning Class V was awarded at a "low-key and sad" prize giving in Plymouth.

"I was strapped in looking down straight into the Irish Sea"

Powerless to help
Robin Aisher is an Olympic sailing medallist and experienced offshore racer. In the 1979 Fastnet he was skippering his family yacht, Yeoman XXI.

The crew heard many distress calls on their VHF radio during the night, but were powerless to help in such high winds and mountainous seas. They were forced to abandon the race after their mainsail ripped.

"Quite a few people read their own obituaries"

Fastnet first-timer
At 17, Mike Broughton was one of the youngest entrants on the Fastnet race. He arrived in Cowes with a tent and camped out until he was invited to join the crew of Hullabaloo the morning of the race.

Mike could not find anywhere to store his tent and so is probably one of the very few people to take one on an offshore yacht race.

"I didn't have time to sit back and worry about my safety"

	E-mail this story to a friend