[Paddlewise] Stolen Boat Update

   I have had several people ask me about the status of my stolen boat which 
I had managed to locate. So here's the story - the boat is gone. Apparently 
running the boat through a lost and found with the city or county is a legal 
way to launder stolen goods. Actually, it's my own fault. Simply being able 
to identify a stolen boat is apparently not good enough. You need to have 
some sort of positive ID, like numbers or names and address carved into it in 
order to positively identify it. Harold has been telling me this for years. 
Perhaps I should actually listen to him every now and then :-)
   At any rate, this should be a lesson to the rest of you. If your boat has 
numbers on it, write them down and keep them someplace safe. If your boat 
doesn't have numbers on it then it might be a good idea to put your name on 
it in such a way that it will be difficult to remove. I really don't know 
just how to do that at this time, but I will be giving it some serious 
consideration over the next couple of weeks or so.
   This incident has got me thinking about boat registration as well. I have 
always been against the registration of kayaks. However, if kayaks were 
required to have numbers on them, and the authorities actually sited those 
that did not, then that would sure make it a lot more difficult for someone 
to use a stolen boat. I don't know, I'll have to give this some thought as 
well.

Scott
So.Cal.

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