More of this Feature • Part 1: Bottoms Up, Things We Like, and more • Part 2: A Word With... Marc Greichen, and more
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Bottoms Up
There’s nothing wrong with bare bottoms at a nude beach—unless, of course, the bare bottom in question belongs to a capsized party barge.

In May a 45-foot, double-deck powerboat flipped over and threw about 60 passengers into the waters of Lake Travis near Austin, Texas. Two women were taken to a hospital for minor injuries; no one was seriously hurt.

“We were extremely fortunate,” says Krista Umscheid, spokeswoman for the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA). “I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Witnesses said the party barge flipped over while moored off Hippie Beach—the Lone Star State’s only public nude beach—after passengers mobbed one side of the deck to see the naked sunbathers. But the investigating officer assigned to the accident doesn’t believe it.

“I just don’t think these people got so excited over a little bit of nudity to cause the whole thing to capsize,” says Travis County deputy sheriff Brett Spicer, who adds that his investigation is still ongoing. “We’ve received many conflicting stories about why the boat actually capsized.”

The party barge was rented by the Austin Tavern Guild, a gay and lesbian organization, as part of its biannual “Splash Day” celebration. Police say that when the boat began to list, the captain ran above decks in an attempt to get people to move to the other side. But his efforts to redistribute the weight came too late. Instead, the captain ended up helping LCRA rangers and the Travis County Sheriff’s Department get the drenched passengers ashore.

Spicer says Lake Travis is the most dangerous lake in Texas in terms of boating-related accidents and fatalities. “It’s a very popular, crowded spot. We get more than 1,000,000 visitors a year,” he explains. “There are a lot of accidents in the summer, but this is the first time a whole party barge capsized.”

75
Estimated percentage of Americans who will live within 50 miles of a coastline by 2010, according to the U.S. Census.

Things We Like
It may look like a poorly designed corkscrew, but it’s really an ingenious knot-tying device for novice fishermen and age-old anglers alike. The No More Knots tool helps you attach hooks and swivels as well as join lines together, without the headache.

All you have to do is thread the line three times around the device, then pull—and you’ll have yourself a textbook knot ready for casting.

Check out www.quickclickfishing.com for more info and to order.

August Calendar
July 29-Aug. 3. The International Boat Show in Sydney, Australia. (61) 2 9438 2077. www.sydneyboatshow.com.au.
13-15. The Fall Boat Show in Jacksonville, Florida. (904) 630-4000. 13-15. The Maine Boats & Harbor Show in Rockland, Maine. (800) 565-4951. www.maineboats.com/boatshow.
18-22. The Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Bay Marina in Seattle, Washington. (206) 634-0911. www.seattleboatshow.com.
26-29. The Michigan City In-Water Boat Show in Michigan City, Indiana. (440) 899-5009. www.boatindiana.com.

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