The story reminds me of an individual who ditched a Robin in a Yorkshire river after "suffering an engine failure" a few years ago. My recollection of the AAIB report is a certain incredulity could be read between the lines - they didn't believe him, evidence to the contrary was slim but they were pretty certain he'd been water-skiing. Same guy flew a PA-28 into a Swiss mountainside in rubbish weather a couple of years later.