ETAP Yachts Rebranded as Armageddon Life Rafts

Early this winter, fans and owners of ETAP yachts noticed something peculiar on the official ETAP Yachting website. Although new ETAPs haven’t been produced or sold commercially in the U.S. since early 2009, when the Belgian yacht company that designed and built the classic ships declared bankruptcy, the site appeared to have been updated recently. 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.” (Last week, it was moved to the website’s news section.) On online yachting forums, there was speculation and confusion over what had happened. Some wondered whether the ETAP site had been hacked.

Those who delved deeper into ETAP’s revamped site found links to the website of Patrick Geryl, a Belgian author and doomsday proselytizer. By Geryl’s estimation, a reversal of the planet’s magnetic field should be happening right around the time the Mayan calendar ends on Dec. 21, 2012, leading to, in his words, “pure unimaginable horror,” which could take the form of nuclear meltdown, volcano eruptions, and—of particular interest to ETAP owners—flooding of biblical proportions.