http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hazing

basically, "bullshitting".

(Какая, однако, ужасть! Вот уж действительно отстойник.)

There's no need for a word that means anything obscene, rude, and so on for two reasons:
1. In itself, "травля" is neutral in this respect
2. Its meaning is explained in the surrounding context

As suggested for травля (in context) as derived from the verb травить, it has a twofold connotation specific to sailors that can be explained as follows:
травить байки = рассказывать что-л. неправдоподобное, вымышленное
[Толковый словарь русского языка под редакцией Ефремовой]
The etymology of this expression seems to be traceable to the direct meaning of травить in nautical language, as in "травить канат."
Indeed, "травля" каната is an almost endless job that can be less boring if you're cheering yourself up with obscene remarks.
Similarly, when sailors are off duty, they травят байки endlessly to cheer up while killing time.
And here you go:
The English equivalent of травить in sailor speak is
ease [off] = to let out a line or sail slowly; to slacken or relieve tension on a line; to take pressure off (yes, sir!)
http://caribbean-pirates.com/nautical_glossary.php
ease = to slacken or pay out slightly, as in “Ease the stern line"
http://www.seatalk.info/cgi-bin/nautical-marine-sailing-dict...

Obviously, easing is also good as a synonym of relaxation

And the ultimate argument is this:
The smack of травля in the context is that it has a more or less uncommon meaning, which had to be explained by the author (otherwise, would he do so?)
Should we then try to translate it into an English word that already has the required meaning and therefore needs not be explained? (Диссонанс-с!)


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Note added at 19 час (2011-05-20 20:35:29 GMT)
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I swear I hadn't read a single comment here before posting the explanation above!
And now that I've just opened this page a few hours later to see what's going on, I'm finding out that Mikhail had a fleeting idea very similar to mine (see his reply to Angela). But he didn't care to think it through and fell back into the well-beaten track of looking for popular rather than uncommon idioms (like the травля here)

After a while of gum beating and supping fresh brewed coffee, we went to a place Darren had never been before. A model engineers dungeon (sorry, workshop). ...
madmodder.net/index.php?topic=457.0;wap2

Gum-beating is Black-American slang for talking. Found on http://www. probertencyclopaedia.com/brow; Gum-Beating Gum-beating is Black-American slang for ...
www.encyclo.co.uk/define/Gum-Beating