April Fools Day (NB)

[AIDY]

Yup it's 1st April again tomorrow. Has anyone had any good jokes played on them in past years, or have you played a good boaty joke on a mate ?

<hr width=100% size=1>/forums/images/icons/wink.gif <font color=blue> Regards Andy </font color=blue>

 

[Capt_Marlinspike]

Take a digital photo of your mates boat.
Give it to your friendly photoshop expert.
Doctor the photo so just the topsides are above water.
Email to mate message about seacock failure with photo attachment.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[DeeGee]

Cor, he'd be surprised, specially if he's a liveaboard !

<hr width=100% size=1>Black Sugar - the sweetest of all

 

[tome]

I had a good one on SWMBO last year. We had a tap that had been dripping for about 6 months and she was getting a bit peed off with me about it, saying that if it had been on the boat I'd have fixed it right away.

I arranged for a mate to phone her and say he was from the water company and they had detected a leak, did she have any idea what it was? She mentioned the dripping tap and he told her that he'd made a note and would be issuing a summons and it was a £1000 fine.

She called me and I said 'you're having me on aren't you?' By now she was starting to throw a few toys out, and lost the plot when I mentioned it was April 1st and she was trying to wind me up. I eventually started to take her seriously, then said I hope she hadn't admitted anything, had she?

She was now more than un peu agite and yelled at me that it was my fault for not fixing the tap and she was bloody sure it wasn't her that would pay the fine.

In a tribute to her broad shoulders, she roared with laughter when I confessed later in the day.

The tap was fixed that evening.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[jhr]

Wow, you like to live dangerously, don't you? /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

My favourite was the YM article a couple of years ago, about the proposed "sail-in" Macdonalds to be sited by the fuel jetty at Warsash. Had me going for a couple of minutes until I realised that I was reading the April issue..............

<hr width=100% size=1>Je suis Marxiste - tendance Groucho

 

[Bejasus]

Ah, that explains a lot. The whole red diesel taxation /drunken boaters issue is an elaborate hoax, all to be explained away as such tomorrow by the CIP government. (Clowns in Power)

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[AIDY]

Yes that was very good. You can imagine all the race crews, after a hard race out in the solent waiting for a big mac and large fries.

<hr width=100% size=1>/forums/images/icons/wink.gif <font color=blue> Regards Andy </font color=blue>

 

[nordic_ranger]

Radio prank goes wrong(NB)

Enjoyed this when I hear it. Listen carefully to her last sentence!

http://www.primepuzzle.com/leeslightest/radio_prank.html


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[isha]

A long time ago ,late 60's if I remember rightly, a sailing mag ran a story about the newly discovered boat destroying 'Polyestermite'
This little beasty would ,unknown to the owner, eat its way round the water line until the bottom bit of the boat disappeared to rest on the bottom. True-- this was printed and it received a vast number of letters until the magazine owned up to an April fool--
A good one!!
dave

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Jools_of_Top_Cat]

When I was younger Radio City (96.7Mhz) transmitting more adverts than anything else over the Liverpool and Cheshire area pulled off one of the best April fools ever.

Norman Thomas, the breakfast show presenter at the time, now residing at Radio Merseyside I believe; woke people up to a startling local phenomena. Due to amazingly low tides, the lowest ever recorded, the Mersey had in fact dried up, the tide had gone out.

People were told of unknown wrecks of galleons showing up in the channel, historic artefacts being pulled to shore after hundreds of years being undiscovered in the busy waters of the Mersey.

The show had reports coming in from helicopters, our man on the ground, all with realistic sound effects. They even gave out the promise of guided tours across the now showing sands of the Mersey River.

To the point thousands of local people took the morning off, sickies and emergency leave all being thrown in so the could go down to the Pier Head and witness this once in a lifetime spectacle.

Afterwards, Radio City actually had to announce an official apology for taking the prank too far, personally I thought it was brilliant, and the work involved must have kept them laughing for weeks before and after the event.


<hr width=100% size=1>J

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.topcatsail.co.uk>

</A>

 

[l'escargot]

Don't laugh too soon. Someone high up in McDonalds (who is also a corporate racer) saw that and liked the idea. Look out for one on the end of the breakwater at Cowes Yachthaven this year as a publicity stunt for Cowes Week. The planning application was quietly passed in the local paper back in January.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[cngarrod]

Re: Radio prank goes wrong(NB)

I remember hearing this for the first time last year... a classic. the other one that always springs to mind is the Aussie radio show that does a version of Mr & Mrs...

Suffice to say that her final answer was extremely embarrasing!

Classic!

Cheers,

Craig.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[kimhollamby]

Polyestermite -- Bill Beauvis

The polyestermite was a creation of Bill Beauvis and a jolly effective little parasite it was too, casuing widespread genuine panic when it appeared in Motor Boat and Yachting (I think).

A mere shadow of the greeat Beauvis but back in April 1988 Motor Boats Monthly published a spoof written by then Technical Editor Mik Chinery suggesting that someone had invented a handheld radar called the PLIRA. The story was topped off by a picture of same (in reality a dog bowl inverted with the name PLIRA in Letroset letters, 'connected' to one of the early handheld LCD TVs by a curly television phone lead).

The story carried a contact phone number which was deliberately chosen as unobtainable. In my wisdom I thought this would cheese off any readers so changed it for my own phone line, thinking that the eagle-eyed (that is the eagle-eyed that had not spotted the PLIRA anagram) might notice the fact it was a Newbury phone number listed at the front of the mag. I can almost visualise readers of this post slapping hands on foreheads at this point. I spent a very uncomfortable month disabusing often angry readers of the thought that they could negotiate the shipping lanes with one hand held aloft like the Statue of Liberty.

There were lighter moments though...including the call that came in from one of the harbour staff on a pierhead in Guernsey asking if it was a spoof because he had an audience of about 20 boatowners surrounding him evenly divided over the issue.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[sailbadthesinner]

a friend had a mother who was a serial house veiwing hobbyist
i pretended to be from the national association of estate agents saying we had noticed she viewed at last one house a week but never offered. she was now barred by every agent what is more no agent would sell her house or accept an offer

that was good

but not as good as the mate who had family in nigeria that he hated cos they came and stayd and would not let him go out just sat around drinking tea and watching telly then took him to church on sunday
we sent a load of cases round in a taxi with nigerian flags on them and note with the driver saying they were coming for 2 months. his face was picture apparently and he threw the cases back at the driver and started packing to leave for a quick holiday. this was not april though we just did it for the craic


<hr width=100% size=1>Beer. Source of and answer to all life's problems.

 

[AIDY]

If it's not an April Fool Again it would do very well at cowes week.

The Tropicana Ice Cream Rib always does a good trade out on the water.

Happy April Fools Day !

<hr width=100% size=1>/forums/images/icons/wink.gif <font color=blue> Regards Andy </font color=blue>

 

[T_C]

Down here in Cornwall this morning, Pirate FM were doing a good story about HMS Scylla re-floating herself, quite convincing for a couple of seconds.....

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[kimhollamby]

...and Classic FM

Virgin Atlantic Concorde flights...

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Andrew_Bray]

Re: Polyestermite -- Bill Beauvis

Bill Beavis invented the polyestermite when he worked on the (now defunct) Yachting and Boating Weekly and its existence continued through the pages of Yachting Monthly. Another good YM one was Des Sleightholme's water ballasted anchor.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[kimhollamby]

Re: Polyestermite -- Bill Beauvis

Apologies, used to read his column in MBY and couldn't remember where else he wrote. I for one would love to see a best of Beauvis column appear somewhere again...I suspect some of them would be a reminder that things change less than we like to imagine.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[qsiv]

Re: Polyestermite -- Bill Beauvis

One of the more risible examples may be found <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.ybw.com/auto/newsdesk/20040301072442ywnews.html>here!!!!!</A>

<hr width=100% size=1>