Fastnet race under way at Cowes

Coverage: BBC Sport's Rob Hodgetts will be twittering from on board Artemis the Profit Hunter; links to live race tracker and video from Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss will also be available on BBC Sport website

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The Fastnet Race goes from Cowes to southern Ireland and back to Plymouth

The infamous Fastnet yacht race is under way from the Isle of Wight on the 30th anniversary of the ferocious storm that claimed 15 lives.

In 1979, the fleet was hit by fierce winds and huge seas as it sailed the 608 miles from Cowes to the Fastnet rock off Ireland and back to Plymouth.

This year, 300 boats set sail in the classic biennial race, which has since seen strict safety rules imposed.

The 100ft Icap Leopard holds the record of 44 hours 18 minutes.

But with relatively light winds forecast over the next few days, race organisers do not expect a fast race.

Thirty years ago, 15 racers and six other sailors lost their lives, 194 boats out of the 303 starters retired, 24 were abandoned or sunk, and rescue services picked up 140 survivors hit by the severe storms.

"The conditions were such that I've never seen anything like that before and I'm pleased to say I've not seen anything like it since," said Matthew Sheahan, who was sailing on his father's yacht Grimalkin as a 17-year-old.

"A lot has been made about the strength of the wind - there were hurricane-force winds at times and that was bad enough - but it was the sea state that was the real issue.

Kate Adie's report on the 1979 Fastnet race in which 15 people lost their lives

"The waves were the size of houses, 40-50ft tall and very steep sided, but coming from all kinds of different angles and breaking.

"It was like being in the middle of multiple avalanches. Quite extraordinary."

Grimalkin was rolled over countless times and lost her mast in the huge seas. Sheahan witnessed his father swept to his death before he and two other crew members, thinking the remaining crewmen were dead, boarded a life raft.

Under the debris on Grimalkin, Nick Ward and Gerry Winks were still alive, though Winks later died. Two years ago Ward, who was found by rescuers, published a book entitled "Left for Dead" describing his side of the story.

Sheahan, now the racing and technical editor of Yachting World, has also finally spoken at length about the tragedy.

He says that losing his father and a good friend at the age of 17 has had "a profound effect" and describes the moment when the trio abandoned ship as a "dreadful, agonising decision".

But he adds: "I cannot put my hand on my heart now and say that was the wrong decision."

Then, the boats carried limited communications technology, meaning that one of the most difficult tasks for rescue services was locating each boat.

As well as major upgrades in technology and safety systems, each entry now carries a GPS tracker unit.

"Thirty years ago, they were flying over the fleet in search and rescue planes and just looking down to try to decide whether a boat was a casualty or not," said Charles Darbyshire, project manager for the Offshore Challenges Sailing Team.

"Now, with the OC Trackers, they know the position of every yacht in the fleet, whether they've activated their Epirb [Emergency position indicating radio beacon] or not."

This year, Mike Slade's Icap Leopard races again and will be chased hard by the 72ft Ran 2, belonging to Skype co-founder Niklas Zennstrom.

Other strong contenders among the big boats will be the STP65s Rosebud, which won the Sydney-Hobart, and Italian America's Cup team Luna Rossa, Karl Kwok's Farr 80 Beau Geste and Open 60s such as Alex Thomson's Hugo Boss, Sam Davies's Artemis Ocean Racing II and Dee Caffari's Aviva.

"The anniversary of the 1979 race will serve as a reminder to us all that offshore racing is a dangerous activity," said Icap Leopard's crew boss Paul Standbridge.

"However, this year will be quite a different race, with light to medium conditions forecast. We are going to have to work hard for every knot of boat speed as we're up against some of the best in the world."

Sailing operates a handicap system so the first boat home is not necessarily the winner, meaning the vast number of amateur entries in the fleet stand a chance of victory against the big boats crewed by full-time professional sailors.

In 2007, another year of strong winds when 186 of the 271-strong fleet retired, the 50ft Irish entry Chieftain won overall after clocking two days seven hours four minutes, corrected to three days, one hour eight minutes.