Dinghy Theft in PNW

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Bill Lee

My crew consists of my wife, two kids, and doggy. Doggy doesn't have opposable thumbs and there were no bite marks on the painter. He didn't do it. I didn't do it. Wife and kids said they didn't do it (I just asked). Their reactions were the same as mine when our stuff was gone: a mix of shock, anger and disappointment. Big Foot can't swim and he breathes heavy when exerting himself - so it wasn't him either. Santa only comes out once a year and he only does good stuff not bad. I do find it odd that in this day and age young kids sit on his knee - but that doesn't mean he took my stuff. Robin Hood died many years ago - but he could have done it - it's right up his alley. BTW, if it was an intended theft I don't believe it was anyone from Stuart Island. It would have to be some other opportunist not far away.
Cheers,
Bill

Kids?????

The plot thickens...

How old are the kids?

Of course they didn't do it! Maybe not a prank but a sneak out gone wrong?

[Bill Lee]

Hmmmm how open should I be here....my kids may read this one day. My daughter is 13 she's an angel. Freakishly so. It's just not normal. She exudes pure goodness. She always see's the silver lining and finds happiness everywhere. I could go on..... My son is a great kid - he's 15. But neither I nor my wife nor he (good people) can live up to the standard of an angel. It's hard for my son. My son is more typical and is doing the rebellion thing. He and the angel sleep in the same bed (onboard) with him against the bulkhead. He'd have to be motivated enough to lose sleep over this, crawl over the angel, get out of bed without banging into anything (impossible - he always bangs into stuff and it drives us crazy), climb 3 steps in the galley without stomping (impossible), open the sliding door without us hearing, somehow stop the boat from tilting to Starboard while he undoes the line and reverses his route. He'd then have to fake his reaction (possible). We would have been out about $20K - he'd be scared to death as we left and until everything was found. We thought it was all gone. He'd have to be ok with all that. The angel would have noticed and told us. Again, he's a great kid and it's ok he drives us crazy (all other adults rave about him though - why do the teens do this to their parents? Grrrr). Just being honest here. Love ya N.
Cheers,
Bill

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Bill Lee

Hmmmm how open should I be here....my kids may read this one day. My daughter is 13 she's an angel. Freakishly so. It's just not normal. She exudes pure goodness. She always see's the silver lining and finds happiness everywhere. I could go on..... My son is a great kid - he's 15. But neither I nor my wife nor he (good people) can live up to the standard of an angel. It's hard for my son. My son is more typical and is doing the rebellion thing. He and the angel sleep in the same bed (onboard) with him against the bulkhead. He'd have to be motivated enough to lose sleep over this, crawl over the angel, get out of bed without banging into anything (impossible - he always bangs into stuff and it drives us crazy), climb 3 steps in the galley without stomping (impossible), open the sliding door without us hearing, somehow stop the boat from tilting to Starboard while he undoes the line and reverses his route. He'd then have to fake his reaction (possible). We would have been out about $20K - he'd be scared to death as we left and until everything was found. We thought it was all gone. He'd have to be ok with all that. The angel would have noticed and told us. Again, he's a great kid and it's ok he drives us crazy (all other adults rave about him though - why do the teens do this to their parents? Grrrr). Just being honest here. Love ya N.
Cheers,
Bill

I have a 16 y/o (almost 17) so I feel your pain...

I have been giving him lots of rope lately and in the beginning he was making really lousy choices. I had to figure out how to let "him" own the outcomes.

He is making great progress (really in about 3 months) but I figure in these last 2 years I have to put the "polish" on his decision making so he has at least some chance of not killing himself or going to jail at 18 - LOL...

I find the "dumbest" choices he makes revolve around his hormones (i.e. girls). There wasn't a cutie he met on the dock or beach was there? That certainly would have been a huge driver for my son to potentially "borrow" the dink...

Although the "guard" sister makes this probabilistically impossible. My son might be able to contain himself in the aftermath (lost gear) but guard sister would certainly have caved...

Sorry if this is getting personal and I'll shut up if I am getting in your business too much...

[Bill Lee]

No worries - I opened that door. There are some things I don't screw up (my OCD) and there are other things I screw up all the time (parenting). Hopefully my screw ups are minor enough not to screw up my kids. Perfect parenting is impossible. I'm so proud of how they are (except of how N is with his immediate family). Again, a great kid. I'm told there's light at the end of the tunnel. Sorry about the thread drift. I admit - the situation is odd. My insurance has a 30 day wait period in case the dinghy is found. The agent was as surprised as I that it turned up.
Cheers,
Bill

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by Bill Lee

No worries - I opened that door. There are some things I don't screw up (my OCD) and there are other things I screw up all the time (parenting). Hopefully my screw ups are minor enough not to screw up my kids. Perfect parenting is impossible. I'm so proud of how they are (except of how N is with his immediate family). Again, a great kid. I'm told there's light at the end of the tunnel. Sorry about the thread drift. I admit - the situation is odd. My insurance has a 30 day wait period in case the dinghy is found. The agent was as surprised as I that it turned up.
Cheers,
Bill

Yeah - major thread drift - My dad and I were "partners" in his aviation hobby when I was 16-18. Mine is mildly interested in the boat (probably as a chick magnet) and when I drag him out there he'll put in a few hours but he's always, "gotta go."

I am completely ignoring this complete "narcissistic" phase as I know he'll get through it. He's just totally focused on socializing right now. However everyone loves him (especially me)

[BandB]

Originally Posted by Bill Lee

Again, I reject #1 and I originally posted as a warning to others because it was either #2 or #3.

Cheers,
Bill

Of course you reject #1 as you've never admitted to screwing up. Unfortunately, most of us have made our share of mistakes and just can't relate to such perfection.

Sorry, don't care how OCD you are or normally perfectionist, doesn't mean you couldn't have screwed up this time. Not saying you did but not going to dismiss that possibility either. It certainly makes as much sense to be considered as the others.

[Ex-Calif]

Occam's razor

Big foot or the dog with no opposable thumbs.

The dog is looking real suspect - Why didn't he bark at the intruder? No teeth marks? Does he have any bird dog friends? Those guys are trouble and they know all those soft mouth techniques...

I reckon he was gonna sneak to shore, chase rabbits all night and come home in plenty of time to clean up and get back to bed. I reckon he just lost the painter before boarding the dink.

I am sure he is expecting you to take the blame and if not blame it on the kid...

Problem with interrogating a dog is their, "I am guilty" face looks a lot like their, "I gotta poop" face.

You might wanna get someone experienced in the criminal dogs tricks...

Probably Bigfoot put him up to it, maybe even helped. This could be a conspiracy!

[Bill Lee]

Hi BandB,
I do screw up - lots. However, there are some things I'm possibly going to screw up, some things I likely will screw up, some things I almost always screw up and some things I will NEVER screw up. Just how I'm wired. It's ok. You don't know me so I can't fault your post. Anything involving patterned behaviour is a NEVER screw up issue for me. No need for me to dive into my faults: I'm pretty blunt, open and honest - you'd stop reading before the 100th page.....
Cheers,
Bill

[Stu Jackson]

The Other Razor:

No one will EVER know what happened.

Glad you got your stuff back.

[Bill Lee]

Hi Stu,
Thanks. We're all glad including my killer attack doggy:

[Ballenxj]

Originally Posted by Bill Lee

My crew consists of my wife, two kids, and doggy. Doggy doesn't have opposable thumbs and there were no bite marks on the painter. He didn't do it. I didn't do it. Wife and kids said they didn't do it (I just asked). Their reactions were the same as mine when our stuff was gone: a mix of shock, anger and disappointment. Big Foot can't swim and he breathes heavy when exerting himself - so it wasn't him either. Santa only comes out once a year and he only does good stuff not bad. I do find it odd that in this day and age young kids sit on his knee - but that doesn't mean he took my stuff. Robin Hood died many years ago - but he could have done it - it's right up his alley. BTW, if it was an intended theft I don't believe it was anyone from Stuart Island. It would have to be some other opportunist not far away.
Cheers,
Bill

I suspect then that this had to be done by Peter Pan & Tinkerbell?
Seriously, glad you got your stuff back.

[JPA Cate]

Mark Twain once wrote something to the effect he was surprised how much his father had grown up, when he saw him at age 25 after leaving home at 18.

For you guys with teenagers, it is their time of separating from the family. Some families are able to accomplish all the separation without much trouble, others struggle with it. It is an extremely self-centered time of life, and the kids have little experience of separation. There's a huge emotional load to abandoning and to being abandoned; and parents tend to think of their authority being challenged. The more rigid your personality is, the harder it will be. Counseling can help. Mostly it's that the kids gotta learn to be their own people.

Ann

[s/v Beth]

Did your kids have any one over the night before? (Just raised 3 boys, that's all). I definitely do not think it's random.

[Cheechako]

This is a remote location. Of all types of places I might expect theft or pranking Reid would not be it. I cant think of a motive for a kayaker camping on the beach or another boater to take the dingy/kayaks. Seals sometimes get on swim steps of larger boats, maybe we have a prankster seal out there... :>) Is it possible the kids were thinking of getting in the dingy and then got called for dinner or something?
For those unaware, here's a air photo of Reid Harbor: Stuart Island (Washington) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[colemj]

Originally Posted by Bill Lee

3) it was an intended prank

Yankying the Canuck's dinghy, let's call it…

Mark