GPS Antenna STOLEN from my boat

[Deleted]

Hi everyone

Just want to let you all know that sadly I have had the GPS Antenna unit stolen off my boat.

Took the boat out Sunday & only noticed it when my GPS unit wouldn't plot me on the map. I will leave it to your imagination what the next 5 minutes of language was that came from my mouth.

It has happened between Sunday 7th - Sunday 14th June, because it was there when I went out on the 7th.

I am over on the newest pontoon C I think it is? Bridge side.

Only the other week I was coming back to my birth early evening & noticed a little motored tender darting away under the bridge from this side of the pontoon. I wondered then if something looked a bit suspect.

I am now really nervous about staying in this position on the river as we are all sitting ducks for night time pilferring pikeys.

For your information the stolen unit is a LOWRANCE GPS-2000 module for an LMS 332C chartplotter.

I will need a replacement so any suggestions on where to get best price (other than ebay) welcomed.

Regards

Mark

PS my new motto: if it unscrews, or disconnects, take it off when you leave.

[Matt]

Sorry to hear about your GPS. My wife was in the cockpit of our boat on pontoon 'C' on Sunday and I was sorting out ropes near the mast. When I came back to the cockpit she said that 2 young men in a tender were motoring suspiciously around pontoon 'C' going up and down and looking at the back of all the boats between the pontoon and the bridge. She said they looked a bit rough and nothing like the upper class hoy polloy that our splendid yacht club enlist. This was between 4pm and 5pm. I guess they stake out the area and then come back later when there is nobody is around. A sad state of afairs, I thought the car park theft problem was bad enough.

P.S. Can I suggest that you put this in the incident book at the club so that it is logged.

[Deleted]

Thanks Sunbeam

That description of the suspicious boat sounds like what I saw not 2 weeks ago.

I will pop to the club one evening & seek out that incident book, I still haven't collected my club book, car sticker & tokens for this season yet.

Thanks for your interest in this, it's some consolation sharing my misfortune.

So now it's just a case of us spreading the word around so that everyone focuses on their boats security once again.

FYI I have just returned from a chandlery that will order me a new module for between £50-£80.

Regards

Mark

[ishtar]

That's terrible. Did you report it?

I would not be overly bothered about my car, but gutted if someone had a pop at our boat.

[Matt]

I had my stern ladders nicked last July/August so had to spend £80 on a replacement. It was in the yard too. You may want to report it to the police. They probably won't do anything at the moment but will log it and if a number of people report incidents then some kind of action may possibly be taken. I am not sure if the car crime has been reported to the police as that seems to be happening once a week.

Its really annoying isn't it! Thats the only thing with CYC its so open and exposed.

[allan]

Hi Mark, Sorry to hear about your mis-fortune. My boat is on the end of C pontoon, so I find this very worrying. I think we all need to be as vigilent as we can and report anything and everything. What is the name of your boat?
Allan

[Deleted]

Haven't been a victim yet but, I hope we are reporting absolutely all crime, whether land or water based, to the police. It's the only way to create a reaction eventually.

I would also report water based crime to the Bay Authority.

Hayden

[ishtar]

Most of us carry phones with cameras on now. We could always snap a quick shot of anything suspicious like those fellas in the tender. If something does go missing then, we may have a picture.

We'd have to keep a list of photos of shifty looking folk who are not crims, though, to avoid having loads of pictures of people like Vince.

[derek]

Hi, it might be prudent to ask the local constabulary for advice - whilst camera or video footage can be extremely useful, taking pics of people and cataloging, potentially contravenes privacy laws... albeit, that would be the last thing on my mind if I caught anybody.

This message board could be a source of info. for crims, can it be members only?

[Cardiff Yacht Club]

Yes it can be members only. This was brought up when the board was set up and it was decided to make it 'open'. Clearly that can be changed, and I'd do it happily, but I think it would need to be agreed by the powers that be within the club first.

Opinions, as always, welcome.

[sandpiper]

Can't we have a crime and security section that is closed to all but members???

[Deleted]

Hi Allan

My boat is named Mandor. (The previous owner was Norman married to Mandy)

Great response to this, it's so nice to get us all talking about this.

In answer to whether I have reported it yet, no. The irony is I have done a busy week of 11hr+ days in work since Sunday, living honestly & earning money to pay for my possessions. Not stealing them!

I will support anything positive that gets decided in relation to protecting our boats in this debate.

It is frustrating that the club is so open to theft, it may sound contravertial to say it but I would even pay an extra £x per year to fund recorded CCTV to be set up & maintained around the compound or more razor wire or whatever other deterants other clubs use.

We can either stay as a great value club & put up with incidents like this year in, year out or we slowly pay more & more to develop, protect & improve it.

Maybe what I am writing here is a natural reaction after having something of mine stolen.

Anyway, the response has been [glow=red,2,300]warming[/glow]

Mark