[Paddlewise] Stolen kayaks found

I wrote:
<SNIP>>>>Two Skin-on-frame Aluetian baidarka style kayaks were stolen last
Thursday
night or Friday morning in Anacortes WA. They may have been spotted later
that morning on a car at a shipping company that barges freight to AK, so it
is suspected they may be going to somewhere in AK.<<<<<SNIP>

The person who spotted the kayaks was Paddlewise member Tom Cromwell
(tomcat?). Tom was about to begin building a skin kayak this week with
Spiritline's Corey Freedman. When Corey told him about the kayaks that had
been stolen from him early (1 to 5AM) Friday morning, Tom said he had
followed two skin kayaks on top of a car for a bit on his way to work at
about 7:30 Friday morning down in Seattle. When the car he was following
pulled into a tug and barge company parking lot (why I originally suspected
the kayaks might be going to AK). Tom almost followed him in because he was
curious about the guy's experience building skin-on-frame kayaks and would
liked to have talked to him. Tom decided not to bother the guy and continued
on to work. Corey called me Saturday to report the thefts and told me that
Tom may have seen the kayak in Seattle. (Another coincidence, I had been
talking to Tom about what design features might make his skin kayak work
better in the surf just a day or two before.) I called Tom and got the
details of what he had seen. I called the Seattle Police to see if they
could check the barge company. They said they could only do so if they had
the report from the Skagit Co. sheriff (the report couldn't be completed yet
because Corey was out of town giving a class). Frustrated I told the officer
I'd do it myself. Next I left a messages to call me on the answering
machines of several freight companies (closed for the weekend) in the area
where Tom had spotted the two skin kayaks. Returning my call, Alaska Marine
Lines woke be up Monday morning at 8AM. They checked their records for me
and reported they hadn't gotten any kayaks in on Friday. Since I was now
awake, and reminded of my planned Monday's mission, I called the other
freight companies in that area (that I had found in the phone book). One
company, where Tom had last seen the kayaks, told me that they only took
full containers but they shared their parking lot with another freight
company (that I wasn't yet aware of). That office also told me they only
handled full containers but directed me to where they would send someone who
had less than a container load of freight to ship. Bingo! That freight
consolidator said they had taken in two kayaks Friday morning.  They
unstacked a few containers so they could open one to check if those kayaks
fit the description that was already on the stolen kayak database on our
website. I had told them about the website to lend credibility to my request
they check the kayaks. When they read the distinguishing features they could
tell there would be enough detail to identify the kayaks so they agreed to
unstuck the containers and take a look.. Before too long they e-mailed me
digital pictures of the kayaks. The kayaks fit the description very well. I
called Corey and he called the sheriff's office. I forwarded the pictures to
Corey by e-mail and after some transmission problems he got them and
confirmed the kayaks were his. He got back to the sheriff to let them know
that those kayaks in Seattle were indeed his kayaks. The suspect was
reportedly arrested Monday evening as he was about to board a flight to
Ketchikan.

Matt Broze
http://www.marinerkayaks.com


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