(CNN) — It’s one thing not to boast about your $100,000 yacht.
It’s another to be so rich, you actually forget you own one.
For two years, the 10-meter-long Rinker 342 Fiesta Vee boat floated in a Swedish marina, its owner nowhere to be seen.
The keys were tied to railing on the deck for all to see, adding to the mystery of the abandoned boat in the village of Stromstad, on the south Norwegian border.
“You could just get on board and start it. But no, no one did,” said the area’s police Inspector Christer Fuxborg, on what’s got to be one of the world’s most honest towns.
As unpaid mooring costs mounted up, fears began to grow that something terrible had happened to the owner, whom no one had ever seen.
Inside the cabin were Norwegian documents dating back to 2008, one of the few clues police had to the missing sailor.
They launched a Facebook appeal, which was picked up by the Norwegian press.
Eventually, their mysterious Norwegian owner came forward. It seemed the boat had simply slipped his mind.
“He had forgotten about it,” said Inspector Fuxborg, who declined to disclose the owner’s name. “I think he must be really rich to forget he owned a boat like this.”
“He was surprised — he thought he’d sold it years ago.”
Despite being unmaintained for two years, the swish yacht was in good condition. The owner’s biggest concern will now be paying the mooring fees.
“As a guest to the harbor you usually pay a fee of $30 to $50 per 24 hours, during summer,” said Inspector Fuxborg.
“But I don’t think he’ll have any problem paying it.”
The-CNN-Wire
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