Recovering a stolen dinghy and engine in another country?

[TQA]

OK I had my dinghy and ob stolen in St Barths a few days ago. Reported it to the police there and I am now in Antigua meandering back down island towards Grenada.

I was thinking about what I should do if I were to spot dinghy or engine or even both. They are pretty recognisable with plenty of identifiers.

I guess I could just repossess it but say it was secured in such a way I would have to cut a security wire or lock. Or do I just go to the local police?

Has anybody come across this problem?

 

[Seajet]

I don't know your waters, but around here I'd go the 'reposess my kit' route, as long as it wasn't going to end in agro which could easily escalate into something nasty; do you trust the police there ?

I'd think even if they do the job it would mean lots of red tape, and delays in an area which may not then be friendly ?

 

[snowleopard]

It might be worthwhile finding out the local situation. The reason I say that is because of the story of a French crew in the Whitbread who were robbed on a stopover in Uruguay. The police were no help but they managed to find out where the thieves had stashed the gear so they went and recovered. They were in trouble and missed the restart because supposedly the law was that it wasn't considered stolen unless the thieves actually used it. In reality I suspect it was just that the thieves paid the bribes and the crew didn't. If locals are the thieves don't be too confident the police will be on your side.

 

[mike_bryon]

i dont know about your island be here in st vincent the police do a good job of recovering boat stuff. they usually know who to go after and often get the stuff back.
if it happened here i would go to the police and rely on them to recover the items.
best of luck

 

[TQA]

i dont know about your island be here in st vincent the police do a good job of recovering boat stuff. they usually know who to go after and often get the stuff back.
if it happened here i would go to the police and rely on them to recover the items.
best of luck

I did report it and the police were slightly bewildered as why someone would steal a 28 year old Johnson and a tatty Caribe when there were lots of much newer kit around. In fact less than 50 m away was a shiny AB dink with an equally shiny Honda 4st just tied up to an empty mooring!.

BTW dink and OB are not insured so no insurance fraud.

 

[KellysEye]

Have you reported it to the Safety and Security net? If they are marked Melodie will put out a 'look out for' notice.

 

[TQA]

Have you reported it to the Safety and Security net? If they are marked Melodie will put out a 'look out for' notice.

Yes I have reported it to them and Melodie informs me that St Barths has had a small rash of old Johnson thefts = go figure!

 

[Sybarite]

OK I had my dinghy and ob stolen in St Barths a few days ago. Reported it to the police there and I am now in Antigua meandering back down island towards Grenada.

I was thinking about what I should do if I were to spot dinghy or engine or even both. They are pretty recognisable with plenty of identifiers.

I guess I could just repossess it but say it was secured in such a way I would have to cut a security wire or lock. Or do I just go to the local police?

Has anybody come across this problem?

You need to check. Certain countries have rules that we might find strange. For example one of our company cars a Volvo, was stolen and turned up I think in Denmark. It had been offered for sale and the person who bought it did so in good faith. As such he had valid title to the car and it was up to us to follow up the chain and try to claim compensation from the person offering it for sale.

This is also the law in France. Our HO legal director couldn't believe it and ordered us to seize the car. Our local legal advisor threatened to resign if they weren't going to accept his counsel.

Rings any bells?

 

[Bajansailor]

Some years ago, when the TSYT brig 'Stavros' was doing winter cruises out of Barbados, I received an email from the Captain one morning saying that they had found a nice RHIB (complete with outboard) drifting about 20 miles west of St Vincent. They took it on board, and carried on sailing north on their cruise.
I sent a 'round robin' email to all of the charter companies and marinas I could think of in the Lower Caribbean, telling them that Stavros had found this tender, and I received a email soon after from one of the charter companies, saying that one of their bareboat charterers had reported that their dinghy went walkies the night before.
Turns out that the tender Stavros found was the bareboat's dinghy - but Stavros was sailing north....... However she was in Bequia again a week later, and a very happy charter company representative collected the dinghy then and made a very well received contribution to the slush fund for youth shore trips.

I am not suggesting that TQA's dinghy went walkies in similar fashion - far from it.
Dinghy theft in the French islands especially seems to be notorious, even for tatty old inflatables and outboards.
But it might be worthwhile contacting as many organisations as possible to 'spread the word' that your dinghy has been 'tiefed', and perhaps hint at a reward being offered for safe return.
For starters I would write to the Caribbean Compass (Elaine and Sally are very helpful) and All At Sea, along with the various charter companies and marinas.
Although if it was a 'pro' French job, then they have probably headed west for Panama by now.

 

[TQA]

Some years ago, when the TSYT brig 'Stavros' was doing winter cruises out of Barbados, I received an email from the Captain one morning saying that they had found a nice RHIB (complete with outboard) drifting about 20 miles west of St Vincent. They took it on board, and carried on sailing north on their cruise.
I sent a 'round robin' email to all of the charter companies and marinas I could think of in the Lower Caribbean, telling them that Stavros had found this tender, and I received a email soon after from one of the charter companies, saying that one of their bareboat charterers had reported that their dinghy went walkies the night before.
Turns out that the tender Stavros found was the bareboat's dinghy - but Stavros was sailing north....... However she was in Bequia again a week later, and a very happy charter company representative collected the dinghy then and made a very well received contribution to the slush fund for youth shore trips.

I am not suggesting that TQA's dinghy went walkies in similar fashion - far from it.
Dinghy theft in the French islands especially seems to be notorious, even for tatty old inflatables and outboards.
But it might be worthwhile contacting as many organisations as possible to 'spread the word' that your dinghy has been 'tiefed', and perhaps hint at a reward being offered for safe return.
For starters I would write to the Caribbean Compass (Elaine and Sally are very helpful) and All At Sea, along with the various charter companies and marinas.
Although if it was a 'pro' French job, then they have probably headed west for Panama by now.

Thanks for the advice. I have circulated the description.

I was more concerned about falling foul of the law in some other island if I just repossed it.

On the topic of charter dinks getting loose the practice of at least one charter co to use polyprop rope as a painter must be a contributory factor, slippery stuff that.

Mine was clipped on with a snap link then cleated off to shorten it so that the security wire did not chafe. Just left with half the wire.

 

[nigelmercier]

person who bought it did so in good faith. As such he had valid title to the car ...

Personally, as someone who has been in this situation, this seems reasonable. It is why the original owner pays insurance.