This book is the personal experiences of Nick Ward (Grimalkin) during the 1979 Fastnet race. The Fastnet race is a 605 mile course that is raced by yachts every two years. This particular race began on August 11, 1979, and the weather forecast determined nothing out of the ordinary. Things began to change rapidly by the third day of the race, and the weather forecast reported Force 8 winds. That was later amended to Force 10, but plenty of crew from various yachts swear it was a solid Force 11. 303 yachts were participating in the race, and it came out that 24 were abandoned, another 5 were lost (likely sank), and 75 capsized. The Grimalkin, with Nick aboard, faced a treacherous time in the storm that I cannot imagine. His personal struggles and the mental and emotional scars it left on him are horrible to think about. I don't want to spoil the book by talking about what he went through, but I am not sure that I would have made it at all. I am really shocked that there wasn't more loss of life out of 303 yacht crews than there were, however there is a memorial to those that did die in this storm/race on Cape Clear Island, Cork, Ireland.

I got this book during the most recent Audible sale they had at Halloween. There were several disaster books, and, as we all know, I enjoy a good disaster book. For some reason, I have been getting a lot of sea disasters lately, and I am unsure if I am in a phase or that just happens to be what is available to me when I am purchasing books. (Also, I need to stop purchasing books because I am meant to be reading my unread stuff to downsize for moving....yet here I am.) I know virtually nothing about sailing or yacht races, so this was an interesting experience for me to read about. I love the ocean, but after reading books like this, I have such an appreciation for the dangers that seafaring people face. While this book was about personal experiences, he did include information about the sailing of yachts that made it where people like me that know nothing could have a general idea of what he was talking about. If you are interested in disasters or boat racing, this might be a good one for you to check into.