Suddenly Overboard

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 simple docking 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, then what 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.