Island-based sailors are preparing to take part in the gruelling Fastnet yacht race.

It’s been 40 years since tragedy struck when sailors taking part in the world’s biggest offshore race were hit by what has been described as the deadliest storm in the history of modern sailing.

Fifteen crew members died. Of the 303 yachts that started, 24 were abandoned.

Forty years on, Andy Roy, aged 72, of Ballasalla, will be competing in the Fastnet Race in his boat Troubadour, while Charlene Howard will be on the startline at Cowes, Isle of Wight, in her boat AJ Wanderlust on August 3.

Also competing will be Kuba Szymanski in his Polished Manx II.

Andy has competed in the 605-mile course twice before, but this is the first time he has done so in his own boat.

He will be part of a crew of 10, including another island resident Chris Willams-Jones, who is commodore of the Isle of Man Yacht Club. Most of the crew are, like Andy Roy, old boys of Pangbourne College in Berkshire.

Troubadour, a 1983 Swan 46, is based on the Hamble River that runs onto the Solent.

Andy, who has been sailing all his life and has been a member of the Isle of Man Yacht Club since 1970, said: ’Getting round the Fastnet Rock isn’t the problem, it’s getting there and back. The weather is unpredictable as it is in the open Atlantic.’

Charlene Howard, a member of the Douglas Bay Yacht Club, is taking part in her third Fastnet Race this year.

She will be joined on board her 45ft Jeanneau 45.2 Sun Odyssey, by fellow yachtswoman Amanda Mochrie.

AJ Wanderlust came to the Irish Sea in July 2014 and Charlene sails about 5,000 to 8,000 miles a year in her.

Charlene, who is originally from Michigan, USA, said: ’I purchased AJ Wanderlust in 2006 in Florida and that’s when I started to sail. I have done 75,000 nautical miles since then.

’The boat has cruised actively and has notched up well over 30,000 miles, visiting 35 countries and going as far east as Croatia and as far west at Hawaii.

’Skagway and Alaska were her most northerly points and the Panama Canal her most southerly.’

She added: ’The weather in the Irish Sea and Celtic Sea always provides the biggest challenge. It can be gale force winds or no wind at all.

’I’m most looking forward to rounding the Fastnet Rock as it’s always such a memorable moment with the turn round it to begin the homeward bound leg to the finish in Plymouth.

’In the last race in 2017 we had an incredible bright full moon silhouetting the iconic Fastnet lighthouse.’

Kuba Szymanski started sailing as a teenager in native Poland. He moved to the Isle of Man in 2000 and since became a RYA cruising and RYA keelboat instructor, and has competed in his First 40.7 ’Polished Manx’ in many offshore races.

The Fastnet Race has been held every two years since 1925 from Cowes and along the south coast to Land’s End and around the Fastnet Rock and then back to Plymouth via Scilly Isles.

Andy said that since the 1979 Fastnet disaster, safety has improved with crews required to do training in off-shore survival and complete 300 race miles in their boat before taking part.

Andy is no stranger to competing in dangerous events.

He took part in the infamous Sydney Hobart race in 1998 when six sailors died and five boats were lost in a violent storm.

There are a record 400 entrants in this year’s Fastnet Race which begins on Saturday, August 3. Entry is on a first come, first served basis and Andy said the list was full within four minutes.

Kuba Szymanski