Warning bells:
BBC commentator taking the key witnesses over the jumps
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05q5ynq
A book based on the event; anniversaries, a memorial in Ireland, the memorial service, the tributes to the rescue services….an inquiry…
The presence in the race of ex-UK prime minister Edward Heath and the founder of CNN, Ted Turner in the race, the eventual winner.
Either 15 named victims or 21; only 15 are ever named. 4 rescue workers are alleged to have died yet they are never named.
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/aug/09/sailing-fastnet-race-admirals-cup-1979

Massive search and rescue effort. A meteorological “freak event”.
The money shot

[Plymouth Undertakers with coffin]
Apparently 2 bodies were never found. No deaths are recorded in the UK; some are reported in 1979 and 1980 in overseas deaths – by which we might assume registered in the Irish Republic. Only one probate mentions a body found subsequent to the event.
An 18th body is reported here…
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1979&dat=19790815&id=uJUiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3qkFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4023,6475004&hl=en

A coastguard spokesman said the dead man was from a yacht named Lotus that sailed with the international fleet but did not compete…the victim was not identified..it is not known what happened to the yacht…a spokesman for the [Royal Ocean Racing] club said only two yachts, the Grimalkin and the Polar Bear were known to have sunk and a third, The Griffin, was believed to have gone down. All three were British….total insurance bill for abandoned yachts at about $11.3m

and the lucky 9/11 style sub-plot…..

Three years later , a French bottom trawler trawled up a bit of the Griffin and it contained the credit card wallet of Stuart Quarrie….
a single five pound note survived…..

136 people were rescued in the largest (at the time) peacetime rescue operation ever mounted. Without the Nimrod’s ability to locate vessels in distress and direct helicopters to provide assistance, the death toll could well have been higher than the 15 lives which were lost.

http://www.targetlock.org.uk/nimrod/service.html

…resulting in the abandonment of 19 yachts, although 14 were later recovered!) Seven died after boarding their life rafts and another three died during rescue.

Source: Essentials of Sea Survival
By Frank Golden, Michael Tipton
[not my exclamation mark!]

A mini Fastnet occurred in San Francisco in 1982, the Farallones Race Disaster

“a stricken yacht” is towed to safety
source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/august/14/newsid_3886000/3886877.stm

And a juicy morsel for rgos : The Dutch destroyer ‘Overiisel’ acted as guard ship for the race fleet
And we have a Dutch death too….whose name is variously recorded [funny how they can’t get “victims'” names correct, isn’t it?]
G.J. Williahey Gerrit Jan Willering [aged 23] or Willerink from the boat Veronier II

I think we have enough there to call this a suspicious media disaster.
The weather map doesn’t even seem to show a deep depression…

https://forum.netweather.tv/topic/56383-the-fastnet-race-disaster/

The Fastnet Race Disaster, as it became known, also changed the rules of sailing forever. New rules and regulations were brought in with special equipment having to be installed on board all yachts. It was, said organisers, never to happen again.

Thanks to the “meteorological oddity”.

Three bodies were recovered during that Tuesday afternoon
http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Chaos-heroism-8211-Fastnet-disaster-30-years/story-11479855-detail/story.html

An official narrative of sorts is written by Eric Olsen in Cruising World
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=FOxbgZfzEfMC&pg=RA10-PA91&lpg=RA10-PA91&dq=fastnet+body+recovered+1979&source=bl&ots=annzKjpc0I&sig=z25yP53m7H7qEX6heaPlHHkLREw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=N-U0VYDxL6TA7AbV_4DgAw&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=fastnet%20body%20recovered%201979&f=false

August 14 1979 Trophy 2 bodies taken onboard Dutch warship Avi Jessel [sic]….Ariadne2 dead Festina Tertia one crew lost overboard Gunslinger I…one person lost overboard…Tempean..reported losing 2 crew overboard..August 17 1979 Bucks Fizz [not in Fastnet Race] 2 bodes recovered by W/S Avi Jessel [sic]

on 15th. Taken by American Corsair to Barry