Cruising

www.ap.google.com CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — An American tourist was shot and killed, and a friend wounded, in an apparent robbery attempt aboard a sailboat on Venezuela's Caribbean coast, police said Monday. Kenneth Dale Peters, 55, was shot by armed men who boarded his sailboat to rob him and his passengers Saturday night, authorities said. READ MORE

Outside.com---John Long was living the greatest adventure of his life, sailing home from San Francisco to his native Ireland. But when his beaten and bruised body was found floating off the lawless, empty coast of Chiapas, it was a scene that sailor and author DAVID VANN knew all too well.

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www.5ones.com -- Chalk one up for all the surfers who can’t stop making a fuss over the ever-growing number of stand-up paddleboarders. The United States Coast Guard has recently stated that it now officially recognizes both stand up paddleboards and traditional paddleboards as “vessels”. This basically means that they are subject to all applicable laws and regulations that go along with being classified as a vessel; such as wearing lifejackets, getting necessary registration, and staying safe distances from swimmers and surfers. Otherwise they could be subject to hefty fines. READ MORE

(AP)LOS ANGELES - The brother of Loretta Sanchez and Linda Sanchez, members of Congress, and his girlfriend were missing Friday after their boat was apparently destroyed, possibly in a collision with a barge outside the nation's largest port complex.

A debris field found in the ocean contained fragments from the 26-foot boat Henry Sanchez was aboard with Penny Avila, the Sanchez sisters said in a statement issued in Washington. "We pray and hope that Henry and Penny are found alive and well."

The Coast Guard said Friday night that the boat and barge being towed may have collided 5 miles south of the Los Angeles harbor entrance.

"We are happy to see the pullback in fuel prices, relative to their record high levels of the recent past, (and) we are hopeful these lower prices will stay with us or come down further," the company says in a statement issued in response to a question from USA TODAY. "However, we continue to see considerable volatility in fuel price movements around the world and believe it would be premature to lower the supplement at this time."

As we noted Monday in a story on fuel surcharges, the price of oil is now far below the level at which it stood back in June when cruise lines pushed through their latest round of fuel surcharge hikes.

The last announcement of a fuel surcharge increase by a major line came on June 17 when Royal Caribbean said it would raise its daily fuel surcharge by $2 to $10 per person. At the time oil was trading at nearly $140 a barrel -- more than 40% higher than it is today.

(Reuters) - Somalia pirates have seized a yacht with two French nationals aboard off the coast of East Africa, a maritime official and the French Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

"The ministry confirms that a yacht with two French on board has been the target of an act of maritime piracy in the Gulf of Aden," it said in a statement from Paris.

The ministry has activated its crisis centre and is examining the case in cooperation with all relevant government services.

Earlier Andrew Mwangura, head of the East Africa Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said a vessel had been seized but it was not clear whether it was a yacht or cruise ship.

BBC News-- A Hampshire yachtsman is to sail around the globe single-handedly - with his route dictated by the throw of a dice.

Rob Clark, from Liphook, said he was inspired by the novel The Dice Man, by Luke Rhinehart, to undertake the voyage in his 42ft (13m) Grand Soleit yacht.

In the book, a psychiatrist allows a dice to decide many aspects of his life from having affairs to what he eats.

Mr Clark said the dice would determine day-to-day movements but big decisions would be made by voting on his website.

One decision the public will make is which direction around the world the 36-year-old will sail.