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MOB Mentality – Send Us Your Story

People fall off boats all the time, especially racing boats. Most are recovered quickly with little more lost than a few places in the standings. But not always. For most of the sailing demographic, MOB — ‘man overboard’ — is one of the most dreaded scenarios, right up there with fire or sinking. We’ve run many articles over the years detailing the tragic consequences of some of those incidents; occasional articles about near-miraculous rescues; and countless ‘how to’ articles about the best ways recover overboard crew.

We were surprised to realize recently that in all that coverage, we have given only tacit attention to the other end of the MOB pole — the person who was actually in the water. So now we want to do that, and we need your help. We’re asking anyone who’s ever fallen off a boat (and obviously lived to tell the tale) to write a short summary of what the experience was like. At some point in the future, we’ll compile the accounts into a feature.

Please include as many details as you can — year, boat, boatspeed, conditions, etc. We’d like to know whether you were wearing a lifejacket or not, what was going through your mind, how long it took to get rescued, and what actions the crew took to make it happen. We’d also want to find out if and how the incident might have changed your life and your sailing attitude or those of your rescuers. Email all incidents to LaDonna Bubak. If you know someone with a good story who is too shy to write themselves, send along their contact info and we’ll get in touch with them. Photos are encouraged.

We’ll send Latitude 38 T-shirts to all respondents whose stories are used in the article.
 

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