Weird stuff on boats, ships, and at sea. (Sorry, no pirates.)
THE GOOD SHIP IRONY
In April 2009, British environmental activists Raoul Surcouf and Richard Spink set out on an awareness-raising journey to Greenland’s melting polar ice cap. Their ship: the Fleur, a 40-foot carbon-neutral yacht that operated with solar panels and an onboard wind turbine. But weather proved their undoing: Hurricane-strength winds and high waves destroyed the solar panels and the ship’s generator. After the Fleur capsized a third time, Surcouf and Spink put out a call for help. The environmentalists seeking to raise awareness of the damage caused by fossil fuels were rescued by the Overseas Yellowstone, a 113,000-ton oil tanker.
WATERSPORTSCAR
A car is meant for driving on land; a boat is meant for water. And the equipment inside each is specifically designed for its purpose. But that didn’t stop Marco Amoretti and Marcolino De Candia from trying to modify their pink Maserati sports car—nicknamed “Miriam”—for sea travel. It stayed afloat, too. Filled with plastic floatation aids, it moved through the water slowly, propelled by an outboard motor. After the two had traveled five miles from the port of Bocca di Magra, Italian coastal police caught up with them and ended the car’s planned trip around the entire coast of Italy. (It wasn’t Amoretti and De Candia’s first voyage: In 1999 they traveled from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean, a distance of 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean, in a modified Ford Taurus.)
IT’S MORE THAN I CAN BEAR
Marty Descoteaux left his motorboat idling for just a minute on Elliott Lake in Ontario in July 2006. While his back was turned, a bear emerged from the adjacent forest and climbed into the boat. The lumbering animal then bumped the boat’s throttle, suddenly sending it into a rapid spin. Descoteaux bailed, jumping into the lake. The bear wasn’t as smart: He remained on the boat as it spun wildly. After a few minutes, the boat hit a rock, sending the bear flying off the boat and into the lake.
In India’s traditional Gotmar festival, participants throw rocks at each other. (It was banned in 2009.)