'My father read in the paper I had drowned'

A woman has described how her father read in a newspaper she was presumed drowned following a sailing disaster.

Frances Reincke was 21 when she competed in the 1979 Fastnet Race, which at the time took yachts from the Isle of Wight, to the Fastnet Rock off the southern tip of Ireland, then back to Plymouth.

The RNLI said an "unexpectedly fierce" Force 10 storm hit that year and 300 yachts were caught up in the violent weather, with 21 people killed and 22 boats wrecked in "the worst ocean racing disaster there has ever been".

Reincke, a supporter of the RNLI ever since, later became chair of the charity's Haslemere and Hindhead branch in Surrey.

Reincke was with her brother and six others when their yacht, called Automony,got caught up in the storm.

"I haven't talked about it much because whenever I did I started crying," she said.

"It was a terrifying experience."

Crew on the yacht were injured and water poured through its main hatch, reaching up to the navigator's seat in the cabin, the RNLI said.

The spinnaker pole fittings were ripped out of the deck, the masthead fittings were rendered useless, and the rudder jammed, it added.

Autonomy sent up a red flare, though this was missed, according to the RNLI.

The yacht was eventually towed to safety to Dunmore East, in the Republic of Ireland, by an Irish lifeboat that was part of the RNLI, the charity said.

Reincke said her father brought a copy of the Evening Standard and her boat was listed as "missing, presumed drowned".

"I help raise funds for a cause that is close to my heart," Reincke said.

She is expected to speak at an RNLI event at the Dart Marina Hotel on 26 March.

Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook or X. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.