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Caught on Camera
If you prefer privacy in the bathroom, beware of the air freshener with bundles of wires behind it.

In May a woman taking a fancy dinner cruise around Manhattan noticed an odd electronic contraption hidden by an air freshener in the ladies room. Afraid that it might be an explosive device, she quickly found the ship’s engineer. It turns out the suspicious gadget wasn’t a bomb planted by terrorists, but a hidden camera planted by the disc jockey who was hired for the cruise, according to The New York Times.

The DJ had been watching live images from the camera all night at his DJ stand while playing music, according to investigators. The boat, named Cornucopia Princess, had departed from Perth Amboy, New Jersey, and was hosting a party for the staff of a local federal credit union.

At approximately 9 p.m., when the unidentified woman summoned the ship’s engineer, the DJ must have noticed that his secret had been discovered. While the engineer dismantled the air freshener and inspected the mysterious instrument, the DJ rushed to the bathroom, grabbed the device from the engineer’s hand, and tossed it overboard, according to the Times. Though the crew did not know what the device was at the time, they immediately contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and the New York City Police Department, which sent a harbor patrol boat to escort the ship to a pier in Brooklyn.

All 150 passengers and 46 crew members had to disembark, while law enforcement officers combed the ship. Though the DJ was placed under arrest and no other illegal devices were discovered, the party’s spirit had, needless to say, died out.

At presstime, the DJ, whose name was being withheld by police, had not yet been formally charged.

250
The number of former New York City subway cars that the state of New Jersey plans to sink off its coast to form an artificial reef.

Things We Like
Whether you need a little extra practice before docking that new 50-footer you just bought or you have some time to kill at the office, check out this free, online simulator: http://spot.pcc.edu/~mtrigobo/docksim/index.html. Adjust the wind and current settings, then try to ease your virtual cruiser into the slip.

The graphics are simple, but the challenge can be somewhat daunting. It took PMY’s Capt. Patrick Sciacca four attempts to dock at the innermost slip without “crashing,”; and publisher Dave Branch reportedly hit a submerged object. Can you do better?

August Calendar
8-10. The Hot Summer Boat Show in Orlando, Florida. (407) 298-1167. www.boatshowflorida.com.
13-17. The Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Bay Marina. (206) 634-0911. www.seattleboatshow.com.
21-24. The In-Water Boat Show in Michigan City, Indiana. (440) 899-5009. www.boatindiana.com.
22-24. “Ladies, Let’s Go Fishing!”; seminar in Sarasota, Florida. (954) 475-9068. www.ladiesletsgofishing.com.

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