Fans and owners of the defunct sailing yacht builder Etap have noticed something peculiar on the official Etap Yachting website.
Although no new Etaps have been produced or sold commercially in the United States since early 2009, when the Belgian company declared bankruptcy, the site recently appeared to have been updated.
First there was the mood music: "The Last Farewell," by Roger Whittaker, with lyrics about "death and darkness" and sailing into hell.
Even more distressing was an ominous passage on the site's home page under the heading "How to survive 2012?" The text warned of a tidal wave that could only be escaped if "present and future owners" of Etap yachts worked together to save enough people "to start a new civilization."
On yachting forums, there was speculation and confusion. Some wondered whether the Etap site had been hacked.
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