Hit and Run in St Maarten

[poiu]

Originally Posted by YachtSplinter

Thank you everyone who has been looking on the Island for Gerard, and to people looking on the other islands too. I really appreciate it.

I have yet to collect the photos from the witness boat as they are still in the Lagoon on the Dutch side and I am on the French side. They have put the photos on a cd so I need to collect them.

Just for the naysayers here, myself and Gerard didn't really start to discus a price for the repairs, I was to collect some quotes from the Dutch side and I asked him to find some on the French side and we could go from there. To me that seems more than reasonable. I have received one quote so far and the cost was $600.

I have learnt a lot from this experience, next time I will not be so trusting and get a copy of the insurance documents, boat papers passport ect and report to the authorities straight away.

The likes of Cadence are not really needed here so thank you for the bumps but I would ask you kindly to leave your comments to your self. Maybe if you can find Gerard then you could defend him if you like, at least then your efforts would be put to good use in finding him first.

I had a similar incident with a good outcome for me. A boat collided with my bow rail whilst at anchor in Nassau and the owner drove off, later claiming he thought there was no damage. By the time I saw the crushed bow rail he was out of earshot and never looked back. He was heading for shallow water so I couldn't chase after him. I tried on the radio, but failed to get him, then called the coastguard to report a hit and run. They sped off in their cutter over the horizon and a few hours later we were both in the coastguard office to deal with it. I got a witness statement from a neighbouring boat in the meanwhile in case he denied it. He had no insurance and insisted there was little damage and wanted to give me $600 to settle it, but I believed It would cost more, so we agreed to wait a day whilst I got quotes and he was ordered to not leave. The estimate was $3000 (it did later cost this much). and we met again at the coastguard. He wrote a promise to pay when he got home and had the ability to make a transfer, this was copied to the coastguard. The coastguard wanted me to confirm payment so they could persue the guy if he reneged. Without their involvement I would have been screwed. He became most humble and compliant in their office.

I would involve the authorities again, without hesitation.

I hope you get it sorted. I will watch out for him.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by AquaGeo

No one finds the Marfia if they don't wanna be found capiche?

Ya got me...

If you start asking around... You'll find out that there's no such thing as the Marfia...

[Yeti]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

Ya got me...

If you start asking around... You'll find out that there's no such thing as the Marfia...

(bump)

[feesh]

Seems simple enough. What you need here is a sting operation

1. Create a gmail account in the name of a young female
2. Create an account on Float plan - Connecting skippers and sailing crew and building a sailing community using a scantily clad picture as your profile. Fill in whatever necessary data is required in a naive sort of way
3. You have Gerard's gmail address. Send him an email you are available to crew and where is he and when can you come aboard
4. Ping him on his floatplan account as well
5. Say that you are in Florida planning to fly out to the Caribbean "soon"

Based on his blog it seems his ultimate destination is the Bahamas? I would have suggested you try to contact the lovely Fatima from Brazil, but quick searching shows no contact info for her.

les voyages de marifa sur les mers et océans

Good luck on your mission should you decide to accept.

[adlib2]

Originally Posted by YachtSplinter

Yes, I have his details but I don't have his insurance details. I have tried to contact him and we agreed to stay put. I know his details are on the internet, I also found them very easily.

Thank you for your input but I am just looking for local boaters to help me locate this guy.

As a public name and shame...? That's not my intention, how else can I get the message across for local boaters on the island of St Martin to help me look for the guy. I don't have access to a fast rib to search the island to look for him.

There are good Cruisers Nets in Sint Maarten and St.Marten that should bring quicker results.