Suddenly Overboard

Preface

Introduction

Sources of the Stories * What the Stories Show * What Sailors Can Do About It

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1 The Storms We All Fear

Chichester Bar * WingNuts * Rally Boat to Bermuda * Briefly

Chapter 2 Some Incidents Can’t Be Prevented?

Tangled in Rigging * Lost Keel * Keep Treading * The Tether Issue—An Opinion

Chapter 3 A Good Day’s Sail Goes Bad

Just One Little Mistake * Too Much Freeboard * Briefly

Chapter 4 Anchoring, Docking, Dinghying

Long Voyage, Quiet Harbor * Late to the Slip * The Season’s Last Sail * Briefly

Chapter 5 Run Aground

Tidal Estuary * On the Rocks * The Reef of New South Wales * Briefly

Chapter 6 Engine or Equipment Failure

The Delivery Captain * “Take It Easy” * Briefly

Chapter 7 A Gust of Wind

Three Generations Sailing off Puffin Island * A Hobie on the Lake * Briefly

Chapter 8 No Way to Call for Help

Voices * Short Sail on the Sound * The Inverted Cat * Briefly

Chapter 9 A Thousand Ways to End Up in the Water

To Save a Puppy * Gone Fishing * Briefly

Chapter 10 The Perils of Solo Sailing

A Sailboat Comes Ashore * The Fouled Halyard * Briefly

Chapter 11 Can Your Crew Save You?

Saturday on Lake Arthur * Wednesday Evening Club Race * Four Miles off Hyannis * Briefly

Chapter 12 What Could Go Wrong?

Capsize in Puget Sound * Capsize in Lake Huron * Sinking in the Georgia Strait * Bahia Transat Disaster

Interview with Gary Jobson, President of US Sailing

Rough waters may seem the clear choice to you, but docking on a sunny, calm day can turn just as deadly--all you have to do is fail to think. That is what happened to author Tom Lochhaas more than twenty years ago, when he fell off his boat in its harbor and struggled to get out of the frigid water, even with help from a friend. Without a personal flotation device, he'd become a soaked dead weight within moments. Complacency had turned a simpledocking into a potentially fatal endeavor. Tom realized after this that he had to change his attitude about sailing safety.

With Suddenly Overboard, Tom will change your attitude about water safety, sharing stories about sailors who experienced catastrophes when least expecting them and who were rescued, or who died, or who lived to tell the tale simply by good luck. Consider the facts:

• Only 22 percent of adults wear PFDs consistently while sailing . . .
• Only 50 percent of sailing fatalities happened while the victims were actually sailing; other sailors were docking or anchoring, etc., when tragedy hit . . .
• In 40 percent of cases, sailors drowned while their boat was still upright. . . .

Using stories from the U.S. Coast Guard and similar agencies in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere, Tom exposes the mundane yet fatal mistakes sailors make every day. You'll find yourself thinking, "If these are how most sailors actually die, thenwhat if I was in that situation?" You'll suddenly realize that you are in these deadly situations every time you get on a boat. Reading Suddenly Overboard: True Stories of Sailors in Fatal Trouble will help you recognize and avoid unseen dangers and return to dry land safely.