The innovative raft
Photo: Avi Cohen
Man sails improvised raft to sea
Police arrested Israeli man who built raft from car, barrels and attempted to sail it to sea Saturday; canned food, water supply found on vessel. 'I was trying to make childhood dream come true,' man explains
Cast Away, Israel style: An Israeli man was spotted Saturday off the coast of the town of Bat Yam, just south of Tel Aviv, sailing an improvised raft constructed from a Citroen model car and barrels.
The police, who arrested the man on suspicion of sailing an illegal vessel, found large supplies of food and water on the raft, indicating that the man was preparing for a long stay at sea.
The craft's builder, Michael, told Ynet Sunday that he was not attempting to flea the country, but merely to make a childhood dream come true.
Citroen BX, the amphibian version (Photo: Avi Cohen)
"I have a dream to build a vessel that would carry vehicles through the ocean. I have already constructed a few models that were unsuccessful. About a month ago I started building the present model, and decided to take it on a test-sail yesterday," he explained.
"I used my own car to assemble the raft, and discovered it worked well. This type of vessels exist in the United States and other countries," he added, claiming he was happy in Israel and had no intentions of leaving the state.
Lucky to be alive
The police officer who was dispatched to the shores of Bat Yam after it was reported that a man was trying to escape the country on a raft, described the strange sight he encountered.
"We saw half a Citroen with no wheels mounted on barrels, and within it was sitting a man who was sailing from Israel westbound. Inside the raft we uncovered plenty of canned food and water, as well as a gas cooker."
"When asked what he was doing there, the man replied he was just vacationing at sea," the policeman said.
According to police, Michael was lucky to be spotted and arrested before he was able to move farther from the shore, because of the rough conditions at sea and the poor state of the engine.
"Had he been able to sail a distance of 10 kilometers (about 6.25 miles) from shore, he would have been history by now," the officer said.
