Please be advised of boat thefts in St Michaels MD

[John Drake]

Folks

I would like to advise those who may cruise to St Michaels MD of the situation there last week. I witnessed two boat thefts. One a dinghy and one a 35ft Jeanneau sailboat. Both were reported to DNR but not recovered until much later and then only on the action of local sailors. Please see the link below:

http://www.sailjazz.com/stolenboat.php

I had witnessed the person who stole this Jeanneau 35 and spoke with this person over the course of 5 days anchored in St Mikes. A young guy who talked a really good story but things did not add up. The boat is AKIZUKI II. He said it was new, it was 2001, he said he got it 28 days ago, but in fact it was documented in JAN. He said "Akizuki" meant warrior when in fact it is japanese for Red Moon. He was a CON!

Please be aware that when I first spoke with DNR on my suspicion that had NO WAY of consulting a list of stolen boats! Each report is made locally and there is NO central database for anyone to check. It would be up to the individual to find the officer responsible for the report in the local jurisdiction where it was repored stolen. Unreal. IN fact, a DNR police officer WAS ON the boat Thurs, Sep 1, to recover the dinghy that was stolen from a boat in a slip at St Michaels Marina! He had no clue the boat was stolen and DID NOTHING. Since the dink was stolen by a local drunk and the people whose dink it was were happy to get it back and get out of town, they did not press charges.

The Jeanneau 35 was recovered when a boat sailing to St Mikes noticed it from a flyer at their marina put up by the owners!

Please be advised of local crime in St Michaels MD and in the larger sense, these issues of boat theft. MAKE certain your dinghy is secure for the evening, locked if possible, ignition kill switch taken out at the very least.

Please be advised that any reports of suspicious activity on any boat may not be connected back to the rightful owner unless you make such a report to the jurisdiction where it was reported stolen.

WRITE DNR AND TELL THEM TO CREATE A CENTRAL DATABASE FOR STOLEN BOATS. Geezz....it might cost $5 a month for a website. Please take a moment to write the Maryland DNR and your local DNR.

Thank you for your consideration.

John
s/v Invictus

[Euro Cruiser]

John, greetings from Lisbon and congrats on helping expose the rat who had the Jeanneau. You didn´t tell us what happened to him; did he vaporize when the DNR folks finally heard the nickle drop?

The boat next to us, when prepping WHOOSH for Europe and berthed in St. Pete, disappeared one night...and the local folks were certainly more clued into the whole affair than what you describe. The owner bought an old racing boat for a song, poured perhaps $15K into it in new equipment, was going to sail it to the South Pacific (yeah, right; didn´t even have a seaberth), local contractors had rebuilt much of the aft end due to rot and had not yet been paid. and then it suddenly disappeared. Guess we can all imagine, as the bloom came off the rose, who ´stole´the boat...the point being that not all the bad guys the insurance companies have to worry about show up in the dead of night.

Hope your project´s going well. We´re waiting for a haul at a large commercial shipyard and it´s just awesome to be in a place that can turn 20´x 5" shafts, overhaul 30 kt ferries (one is on the ways now), wants to handle yachtie biz as well, is amazingly inexpensive and welcome you like you are lost members of the family. I think the lesson is that it doesn´t have to "look" like a boatyard or charge like a boatyard to be a desirable place to haul.

Stay in touch as the dust settles this coming Spirng, OK?

Jack

[John Drake]

Jack

Great to hear from you and to know all is well there. Love Lisbon, what a great place. Don't forget to get to La Maddelena.

The guy is in custody. Amazingly, and just by luck, DNR caught him on the boat. He was spending most of his nights in town with ...unreal ...a woman who had 4 kids living at home. Three girls under the age of 13. SCARY. I am serving as a witness against him at this point. And happy to do so.

You can probably tell from the tone of my note how dissapointed I am with the performance by DNR. No way to check a list for stolen boats, and an officer actually ON the boat who did nothing. A fellow sailor made the report back in the local jurisdiction that finally got the guy caught. And only because they noticed a flyer put up by the owners.

Anyway, still fun and games here. Still waiting for the big guys to cut lose the big chunck of change...but already having to deal with the politics. No problem. Cruising for 10 days on the ches was heaven. Invictus was fantastic. All changes, upgrades and mods made over the past year or two worked great. New RIB was a blast....and now....will have a new LOCK.

Fair winds, hope to catch up to you.

John

[Jeff H]

Hey John,

Were you heading out of the Choptank on Saturday? If that was you, I think that we passed within a 100 feet of each other near the mouth of the Choptank. I called you but you did not turn when I called and I could not read your transom. I would have tried to catch you but I wasn't sure that it was you and I was single-handing and trying to get into Oxford to rendezvous with some friends. If you would like to get together, please email me when you are in Annapolis.

Jeff

[John Drake]

Hi Jeff

Sorry we keep missing each other. We do need to get some sailing in. I don't think it was me, I was jumping out of the West River on SAT.

There are two or three other Wauq Hood 38's on the bay. One out of HHS and two from Annap. Also a Centurion 38 in Annap that looks very similar.

I have met most of the owners, all nice folks. We had a rendervous in Lake Ogelton a few weeks ago. One owner lives there. Even though all the Hood 38's I know of are set up for long distance cruising, none have the davits and RIB on their stern that I do. Look for the oyster canvas and davits with a new Achilles...that will be me. And, if you see a yellow kayak on the coachroof...that is definately me . The boat is now fitted out and I have been having a blast.

Hope your summer has been a good one.

Best wishes

John
s/v Invictus

[Jon D]

Sounds like everyone was playing eastern shore get away.

I keep missing all you guys as we are moving around the bay.

[kimberlite]

Jack,
what marina are you located at?

did you meet Carlo ? Ex IBM and a sailor. will pick up at the airport, get you propane,sail repair ,gas, shopping, he will taxi you around. His tele # 00-351-91-986-8807 he speaks great english
fair winds
eric
Kimberlite
amel super maramu

[Talbot]

I have heard of thread drift, but I reckon this thread takes the prize