[Paddlewise] Stolen Mariner Escape Recovered

As some of you know we have a lot on Whidbey Island as a kayak headquarters.
I bought the lot (cheap - it has a ravine on it) mostly for access to the
3100 feet of sandy community beach it gives us access to. And for free
long-term parking.  And for the ability to legally put a mooring buoy out
for the muthah-ship and thereby save a bundle on slip fees.

Rather than just leave a kayak on the beach like most of the other members
of the community, I stashed a Mariner Escape I had bought last winter in the
bushes on the lot along with a spray skirt, paddle, paddle float, PFD, etc.
This would let me go visit the lot when I was in the area without hauling a
kayak around on the top of my car.

Some time between about July and early December someone decided that the
kayak would be better off in their hands than in mine and they took it from
its hiding spot. I mentioned it on West Coast Paddlers, told Matt Broze
about it so he could include it in his database of lost and/or stolen boats,
and mostly wrote it off to experience. But I did keep a wary eye on
craigslist just in case.

Earleir this week a WCP member sent me a link to a boat offered for sale on
Seattle's craigslist which closely resembled mine. It was for sale from a
south Whidbey location. He had also determined that it was the correct color
by calling about the boat. In fact, it was only when he was half way home
that he realized that the seller's description of the boat as a "northwest
kayak escape" as a Mariner Escape (northwest kayaks built and labeled most
of the Escapes). He then contacted me.

I contacted the Island County Sheriff's Dept. and then the seller who told
me he had received the boat from his "dad" in June. I then mentioned that it
sounded a lot like the kayak that had been stolen from my property last
summer. He then changed his story and said that he had "stumbled" over the
kayak hidden in the woods while he was looking for mushrooms and that he
assumed it was stolen and stashed in the woods so he took it. The kayak was,
in reality, hidden only about 75 feet from a paved street in an area of
homes. At any rate, he allowed as how it might be my kayak and I told him
not to sell it to anyone and wait for a deputy from the Sheriff's Dept. to
contact him.

The deputy played phone tag with this guy for a day but I finally got in
touch with him and arranged to drive the 5 hours to Whidbey from Moses Lake
to pick up the boat today. At that time he told me that he was satisfied it
was my kayak based on the answers to a few questions (color of PFD, etc.).
However this morning I could not get him to answer his cell phone so I
contacted the deputy. I didn't want to drive all that way to get the boat
and then not have it. And I did not want the seller to move the boat and
make it impossible for me to identify it as mine.

The deputy could not contact the seller either but knew who he was because
Pam had done a reverse lookup on one of the phone numbers in the craigslist
ad. She also came up with a business address attached to the phone number.
So we visited the business and while no one was there we did see the kayak
in plain view next to the building. I went over to it and identified the
boat as mine from some details that I had related to the deputy before we
went to the location. With that identification the deputy allowed me to take
posession of my property. I loaded the kayak on my car and drove home.

It was a long trip but worth it. The kayak is in good shape except that one
of the sliders (port side) for the sliding seat is missing. I'll have to
contact Matt and see if I can get a replacement. And the hand pump is gone.

Interesting that one of the things that made the WCP member realize it was
my kayak was that the list of items offered for sale with the boat was the
same list I had posted as having been stolen with the boat.

All's well that ends well, as they say. Just goes to show you that it pays
to tell other paddlers in the area when you have a stolen kayak. Six months
later someone may remember.

Craig Jungers
Moses Lake, WA
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