The most common call-out last year was due to incidents on powered pleasure craft, with machinery failure still the most common cause.

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Most of those rescued were on pleasure craft and a growth in water sports is one reason for the rise in emergencies.

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On a weekend afternoon in Austin, the middleaged locals were hitching pleasure craft up to their SUVs and heading out to the lake.

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From our vessel, which is part of a 40-watercraft flotilla of paddleboards, pleasure craft and dinghies, we watch 35-foot waves crash and clatter, mixing sea spray with diesel fumes.

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The USNS Rappahannock, a fuel resupply ship, fired on what two U.S. officials called a "small, white pleasure craft" 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the Dubai port of Jebel Ali.

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For example, the H2, a pleasure craft if there ever was one, does not have to meet any fuel economy standards because it is so heavy that the regulations consider it a commercial vehicle.

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Yet the pleasure of the craft inspires them to continue.

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