15.05.2009/ by aejae: 14th May 09
Kuah Harbour, 20 May 2009
At 07.15 a yachtie spotted a partially submerged dinghy adrift in the north part of Kuah Harbor approximately 1 km off the shore in front of Bella Vista hotel.
As he prepared to investigate, a small longtail fishing boat with 2 fishermen aboard arrived at the dinghy and after investigating took it in tow.
The yachtie dinghied out to them whilst they were salvaging the dinghy. The fishermen were friendly and helpful and after exchanging names and telephone details the yachtie said that he would attempt to find the owner and get him to contact them. At about 08.15 they moved off to their village close to Century Suria building with the partially submerged dinghy in tow.
The yachtie was able to gather the following information;
The dinghy was a 3meter Quintrex aluminium dinghy in good condition but was half full of seawater. The transom dinghy-drain/ seacock was fully open and the dinghy’s built in buoyancy was preventing it from sinking fully. The yachtie closed the seacock and advised the fishermen to bail out the water.
There was no outboard on the transom at that time or before the fishermen had arrived at the dinghy. There was no fuel tank or fuel line in the dinghy.
The yachtie then returned to the anchorage and at about 09.00 he found the owner of the dinghy who showed him a severed painter/dinghy line.
The Owner, whose yacht is anchored in the center of the anchorage near to “the fishingboat river”, said that the dinghy and outboard were securely fixed to the side of his yacht the previous evening when he went to bed on board.
The painter/line had a Wichard type spring locking clip on a 4 meter long x ¾ inch x 3 ply line. This line had been cut with a sharp edged implement close to the dinghy bow. The 8hp outboard had been secured to the dinghy by a heavy duty chain ( appro x 10 mm ) and lock.
At 09.30 the Owner and friends went to the fishing village. At 11.45 the Owner returned with the dinghy and tied it to his yacht. He then made a Police report.
aejae: 14th May
Editor’s Note:
To prevent repeats of this event please do the following:
Immediately report any suspicious activity to
Kuah Police: 04 – 9666222 or the
Marine Police: 04 – 9668678.
Also take these steps to secure a dinghy.
1. When possible or pratical, keep your dinghy locked in davits.
2. If no davits, lift your dinghy and place on deck and secure with lock/chain.
3. If it must be kept in the water, as it’s then at greatest risk do the following.
Peninsular Yachts in Kuah can offer a range of products to secure outboards. These start at only a few RM but some of the more expensive, sophisticated products make outboards nearly impossible to steal from a dinghy transom.
To prevent the theft of a dinghy from a dock or a yacht Peninsular Yachts can supply an inexpensive dinghy security painter/line system which is very difficult to break or cut even with boltcutters or hacksaws.
Ultimately no system is 100% secure but the more difficult or time consuming the breaking or cutting takes the it’s more likely the thief will look for easier pickings.
Outboards and dinghies are expensive things to replace, so why risk loss for the want of a few dollars worth of security.
