First Thief Experience

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Rampant. I lost a kayak,

A Kayak.???
Hmmm.!!! wonder if its the same one SB's invader was in..

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Rampant. I lost a kayak, a RIB, an outboard, a 65 lb anchor taken from my bow and a bicycle taken ftom my stern.

The entire St John's River is an unsafe place to keep boats. Just ask around the cruising community. Everyone knows this. So many people's boats are stripped of valuables there, it's ridiculous. Winches torn from decks, electronics pulled out, etc.

Wow. I’m sorry I didn’t understand you personally knew all of the St John River locations.

Btw- I’m part of the cruising community here on the St Johns River and I did ask around. That’s why I’m not in Green Cove Springs

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Chotu

Rampant. I lost a kayak, a RIB, an outboard, a 65 lb anchor taken from my bow and a bicycle taken ftom my stern.

The entire St John's River is an unsafe place to keep boats. Just ask around the cruising community. Everyone knows this. So many people's boats are stripped of valuables there, it's ridiculous. Winches torn from decks, electronics pulled out, etc.

Would be interesting to know how much of this crime is perpetrated by members of the boating/cruising community. So much of the stuff just mentioned is not going to fetch easy big bucks in pawn shop. But it is highly valuable to another cruiser.

There is a clear correlation between urban life and higher crime rates (both property and violence). I’ve usually hung around in smaller areas, and we almost never lock anything down. Same as when I lived on land — our last house we didn’t even have house keys.

[sailorboy1]

Joe Cruiser walks along the fence next to the the marina. On the corner there's a guy with a trench coat and as he goes by:
"Hey, I've got something good here for you." says the guy.
"What" replies Joe Cruiser
"It's almost new, but I don't need and it's cheap." says the guy as he opens up his trench coat to show you the nice shiney tailing winch.

Or on the morning cruiser's net . "I have a barely used 10 HP outboard that runs great! I decided to just use my kayak from now on. $100, meet me on the corner after the net if interested."

Why do cruisers and other people steal stuff off boats???? It's because other cruisers will buy it!

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

...Why do cruisers and other people steal stuff off boats???? It's because other cruisers will buy it!

Agreed. Which is why I wonder how much of the cruiser-targeted theft is actually perpetrated BY fellow boats/cruisers. I’d bet it’s high.

This is true of the one personal anecdote I experienced. A yacht club I was part of experienced a spate of thefts over a period of time. Turned out the thief was a fellow club member.

[BobHorn]

This happened to us in a very nice marina in Clear Lake, TX. We were on the end of a brokerage dock and someone stole the 50/30 splitter. Of course fridge an freezer defrosted. I believe the brokerage was was getting a new boat ready for delivery and thought that would be a nice extra for the new owners. Splitter was almost new so easy to pass for a new one. Previous one got burned by the power pedestal so we got pay for two new ones.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Not to say you're wrong- but when stuff goes MIA here (chairs, umbrellas, flags, etc.) they usually wind up in the water. Sometimes we find them, sometimes we don't.


Back on the topic of crime and region/ environment: on Lake Ontario very few marina docks (none I can think of) are gated. In Hawai'i virtually all are gated. Along the lakeshore no homes/ cottages have bars on windows, which is more common down south, and very common in Central America.

Pretty sure they had this guy on camera, maybe not good enough get the face though, I know they were looking for his boat, but he was gone.

I would think it would be hard to pawn a custom built, expensive titanium wheel chair though, especially if you walked in carrying it?

[Kokanee]

Thieves at the marina is rare here but I have heard of the odd rare incident. I just have insurance and don't really worry about it. No excess to pay on a loss within the marina.

My dinghy has a slow leak that I can't find. Come and get it.

[sailorboy1]

Well I found the "raft" the guy was on (my wife ID it as she got the best look). It is tried to a pier next the the marina that a shrimp boat has been tired toto the last week or so. There's no way to get from the pier to shore without crossing the water and the raft wasn't there the other day. So it must be getting used and the guy must be on that shrimp boat!

I called the sheriff and will see if they care enough to come look (sheriff headquarters is RIGHT across the street).

[kmacdonald]

A couple of things to remember. You don't kill a burglar because he was stealing from you, you kill him when he charges when confronted stealing from you. When you pull a gun out use it with deadly force, no exceptions. Take the fifth when questioned, it's the polices job to guess what happened.

[Sirzones]

Joshua slocum had the right idea😂😂
Put furniture tacks over the deck at night
I heard of one guy stringing thin fishing line around his boat , tied to some pots and pans to make noise when someone trips in the line

[Paca1953]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

I'm currently is a slip in Jacksonville, Fl that has locked gates to the docks etc. But that doesn't mean your stuff is safe:

We were awakened at 4am by weird noises and boat movements. Turns out there was someone trying to steal our dinghy right off of our boat's davits. He had managed to untie the davit lines and the dinghy was half down to the water when my wife, who had gotten up to investigate the noise etc. Guy appeared to have come by kayak and he paddled off after my wife went up and discovered him. I lost sight of where he went and by the time I put on some clothes and got a light I couldn't see where he went..

There isn't even really a close place near be to get into a kayak and there aren't any anchored boats etc. around with at least 2 miles. Someone paddling around at 4am in the rain you would think had a plan from the start and he had come targeting our dinghy.

Sounds like a good job for a spear gun to me.....and with a spear sticking out of him he would have been easier to identify...just sayin

[femurphy77]

Originally Posted by Paca1953

Sounds like a good job for a spear gun to me.....and with a spear sticking out of him he would have been easier to identify...just sayin

Sweet!

[rlevin73]

Shotgun justice works quite well.

[boatman61]

Back in the 90s there was a small group of boats used to sail down to the Ballearics from Marseilles every summer with "shopping lists".. basically anything of value was fair game from dinghies to pedigree dogs left top sides while owners went ashore.
Favourite trick was one man on the bow with a sharp knife on a boathook and another at the stern with a boathook.. front man cuts, rear man snags and they motor on with the owner below unaware.. just another boat motoring outs the anchorage.