In August 1979, 303 yachts began the 600-mile Fastnet Race from the Isle of Wight off the southwest coast of England to Fastnet Rock off the Irish coast and back.
It began in fine weather, then suddenly became a terrifying ordeal. A Force 10, sixty-knot storm swept across the North Atlantic with a speed that confounded forecasters, slamming into the fleet with epic fury. For twenty hours, 2,500 men and women were smashed by forty-foot breaking waves, while rescue helicopters and lifeboats struggled to save them. By the time the race was over, fifteen people had died, twenty-four crews had abandoned ship, five yachts had sunk, 136 sailors had been rescued, and only 85 boats had finished the race. John Rousmaniere was there, and he tells the tragic story of the greatest disaster in the history of yachting as only one who has sailed through the teeth of a killer storm can. With a new introduction by the author.
After 30 years of professional writing about boats, sailing, New York history, cemeteries, religion, and other topics, it's still a thrill to learn that I've given people pleasure and security. Just this morning I read these words: "If you want your Ph.D. in sailing there's always John Rousmaniere's The Annapolis Book of Seamanship." That advice to a new sailor appeared in the Catalina Association Forum on June 27, 2009.
Though I've sailed some 35,000 miles on most of the oceans, I was born in Kentucky and spent my early years in Ohio. My family moved to the shore of Long Island Sound, where as a boy I fell in love with sailing and boats. Raised by parents who were wonderful story-tellers, I became determined to be a writer, and that's what I've been doing most of my life. I was educated at Columbia University (bachelor's and master's degrees in history) and Union Theological Seminary (M.Div. -- readers say they see religion and spirituality in my books), where my wife, Leah, works. After Army service, I spent several years as an editor at YACHTING magazine, them became a freelance writer while raising my two young sons solo.
I do a lot of lecturing and instruction -- 20-30 talks a year across the country -- in part because it puts me in touch with readers. When not sailing and writing, I enjoy mountain hiking, New York City, movies, reading fiction, poetry, and American history, and spending time with my wonderful sons, their wives, and their children.
