It began in fine weather, then suddenly became a terrifying ordeal.
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,.
For twenty hours, 2,500 men and women were smashed by forty-foot breaking waves, while rescue helicopters and lifeboats struggled to save them.
A Force 10, sixty-knot Storm swept across the North Atlantic with a speed that confounded forecasters, slamming into the fleet with epic fury.
It began in fine weather, then suddenly became a terrifying ordeal