A $2500 outboard motor was stolen last week from a locked storage container at the club’s site north of Kaiapoi, this time disabling the boat coaches use at Learn-to-Sail classes for young up-and-coming sailors.
The late model Mercury 9.9hp 2-stroke outboard was stolen after the lock on the container was cut with a grinder at the club’s property last week.
It has a distinct large trim tab just above the prop.
Commodore Sam Jones is ‘‘gutted’’ and he desperately wanted it back.
It comes on the heels of two Optimist learn-to-sail boats being stolen earlier this year.
Both boats have since been found — one by the police, and another by a person walking their dog, dumped in long grass.
Jones says it appears the boat was dumped on the property when it became too hot to handle after all the publicity about the theft. The area it was found in near the club’s facilities, had already been searched.
‘‘The positives that came from the community, and the business community, were phenomenal when the boats were stolen.
‘‘Now we have been stung again,’’ says Jones.
He is grateful for all the support the club received when the boats were stolen, with an Optimist being donated to the club from Auckland-based Bucklands Beach Yacht Club.
‘‘We now have eight Optimists,’’ says Jones to cater for those wanting to learn to sail.
Twenty-five young sailors took to the water in the latest learn-tosail programme.
‘‘The most we have had is 56.’’
Jones was on the site early last Sunday to get the gear to Loch Ness, as their sailing lake has been nicknamed, and discovered the outboard was missing.
‘‘You can not get a vehicle in there, so whoever took it would have had to carry about 200 metres to the gate,’’ he says.
The gates were also locked at the property and have private property signage on them.
