The untold story of one of the worst sailing disasters in modern history is to be retold in Falmouth.

The Fastnet race of 1979 began in perfect weather conditions, but within 48 hours was struck by the deadliest storm in the history of modern sailing. By the time the storm had passed it had mercilessly taken the lives of fifteen sailors, many from the south west.

Abandoned and left for dead by his crewmates - Nick Ward was almost the sixteenth, and was the last to be rescued.

It had been Nick's childhood ambition to sail in the Fastnet race, so being invited to join the crew on the yacht Grimalkin was a dream come true. But the dream turned to a nightmare when, in the midst of colossal waves and unremitting winds, Grimalkin was capsized again and again. The mast broke off, the skipper was lost overboard, and after hours of exhausting struggle, three of the crew abandoned the boat for the life raft. Nick and his fellow crewmember Gerry, both injured and unconscious, were left on the fated yacht in the middle of the Irish Sea. Both were presumed dead. Gerry died a few hours later, and Nick was left to face the storm alone.

Unable to speak about the traumatic experience for 27 years, Nick will be sharing this moving and inspirational account of his survival with an illustrated talk on Wednesday September 26 at 6.30pm in the Maritime Museum's lecture theatre.

The Fastnet disaster of 1979 saw every lifeboat in Cornwall at sea, many for more tyhan 24 hours at a time. Helicopters from RNAS Culdrose were in the air for hours on end in an attempt to rescue sailors.

Many of the dismasted and wrecked yachts which did not sink eventually were towed into ports such as Penzance and Falmouth. Lessons learned from the disaster ensured such a tragedy could never happen again.