Mr. Maurice Conti and Mrs. Sophie Conti, United States citizens, nominated by New Zealand, for the rescue, in rough seas, of three crew members from the yacht Timella, which had grounded and then sunk, off a remote South Pacific coral reef. The Contis are non-professional sailors who, at the time of the incident, were sailing with their young family. They planned and executed the rescue in the middle of the night (12 13 October 2008), exposing themselves to considerable risk, in the absence of marine/aviation rescue assets.
My friend Maurice and his wife Sophie are being honored by the IMO for their brave rescue of the yacht Timella last fall. I originally posted about this a few months back. Check out the original post with the news video clip about the rescue.