Have You Been Fooled Today?

Here in the U.S. ‘April Fools’ Day’, also called ‘All Fools’ Day’, is not a big thing. It is more commonly praticed in European countries where hoaxes and practical jokes are played on family members and friends. However, in some countries even the television and radio stations are the biggest ‘prankers’. For example, in the beginning of the 1960s the Swedish national tv had a long piece how the viewers could turn their b&w tv set into a colour tv by putting a lady’s nylon stocking in front of the tv screen. Another year, a Swedish radio station claimed that a famous Swedish music scholar, that everyone knew hated the accordion, had come up with a new invention, an ‘accordion filter’ that you could install in your radio to block out any accordion sound in a music piece played on the radio.

So, have there been any April Rowing Hoaxes? Not counting my own lame try a year ago, "New" Boat Type To Be Launched, the only one I can remember is in the 1990s when ARA’s magazine Regatta (or was it the British independent Rowing Magazine?) had an ad from the boat builders Aylings, who was going to sell their shells with an extra feature, a bow ball with a spring! The cox, or one of the rowers, would be able to push a button to release the bow ball, which would then shoot out from the bow and that way win a close race. I do not know if Aylings ever received any orders…