boatyard security

[shellback]

Shame how kids can create so much havoc and damage to people's dreams.

Our Oday 27 is stored at a boatyard popular with sailors, who houses boats ranging from 24' to 57'. From the oldest to the newest of rigs. 2 weeks ago, some kids vandalized a boat repair business across the street then broke into the boatyard and damaged some boats. They were kids. They broke into boats using an axe, damaging sails, vandalizing the boats and stealing small stuff, stereo's , stereo faces etc.

Boatyard owner immediately installed extra equipment to catch them, but before he could install everything, they struck two more times! Hitting a total of 10 sailboats. We insisted we launch earlier than normal to "get out of there"...so we launched before the normal boating season here in the Great Lakes. Many other boats splashed wayyy earlier than they planned to, only to protect their boats from stupid kids. Many boaters came down to sleep on their boats to protect their property.

Shame that people would do that, only for the thrill. We knew it was kids by evidence left at th scene, but also they didn't steal nav equipment. They passed up the raymarine, gps and other stuff and went for stereo's.

We were fortunate, with no problems, however I do hope no one else suffered a break in like that. Whether on the water or on the hard, be kind to each other!


Mark

[senormechanico]

I'd nuke the little b*stards.

[Islandmike]

Vandalizism is always senseless, it is a damn shame when that type of thing happens. I truely saddens me to think that people destroy property for the sake of kicks.

[shellback]

Oh yeahh!!! many of the boat owners were ready to catch 'em and they already warned the police if they catch 'em before the cops do....!!! you catch my drift!


wondering how common boatyard vandalism is with marinas/boatyards around the U.S. or the world.

[Pura Vida]

Oddly enough the only theft/vandalism I ever experienced on Galveston Bay was committed by Boy Scouts.

[ssullivan]

In my experience, boatyard vandalism and theft have been close to nill. I know there are some cases here and there, but by and large people seem to mellow out when they are near the water.

However, when we are younger, we do stupid things. I can recall losing my dinghy in college and "borrowing" one for a week long trip. I took good care of it, and put it right back where I found it, hoping that someone didn't miss it while I was using it. (I don't think anyone did, since it was at the yacht club I was associated with and I didn't hear any complaints.) Not the right thing to do, but I was a stupid kid.


I guess the real issue here is that sometimes kids do stuff like this, and marinas are usually the last target. Usually, it's your mailbox, car or something like that.

[shellback]

Very true, most boatyards are usually pretty safe. Even the one we've been at now for the last 1 1/2 years has been incident-free. which is good. I know the owner well and being a sailor/racer himself, he's never had a problem before so this is BIG for him to have that problem with kids.

We dock our boat at a different marina and most we've heard is problems of people boarding your boat, sitting in the cockpit (which is ALSO wayy wrong! ) Even if I KNOW the owner, I won't board his/her boat without permission. Even then, amid those problems, is people who wanna steal easy targets, such as coolers etc. ya know?

[The_Bean]

I have increasingly seen that the youth of today are having less and less respect for others and their property. We recently had a storm in Richards Bay and a cat that had been beached for a bit of work drifted to another part of the beach, next to a beach pub. A couple of drunken bums thought it would be fun to kick a hole in the side of the cat... with the result that at high tide, 60% of the cat was underwater and the damage was extensive.
Why do the kids of today have little or no respect..... because the methods that our parents used to keep us in check were considered too harsh and barbaric!!! Funny that we turned out to be OK!!

[rebel heart]

The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.

(Socrates, about 2400 years ago)

[ssullivan]

HA!! Great quote, Rebel Heart!!

Kids will be kids... that's for sure. If anything, I think kids today are better behaved than we were. We did a lot of partying and got into all kinds of trouble. I'd say kids today are more regulated, more in control, more grown up and more well adjusted than my generation was growing up (gen X).

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

Kids will be kids... that's for sure. If anything, I think kids today are better behaved than we were. We did a lot of partying and got into all kinds of trouble. I'd say kids today are more regulated, more in control, more grown up and more well adjusted than my generation was growing up (gen X).

Generation X? I have heard of it, but never really sure what it meant let alone whether it fitted me

Me, I am one of "Maggie Thatcher's Children". But at least I sometimes feel bad about it

Yoof of today? I would say some are more feral than they used to be - and I fear that society is raising way too many morons.......and then letting them breed.

But overall most are probably much the same as they ever were and ever will be........

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by ssullivan

HA!! Great quote, Rebel Heart!!

Kids will be kids... that's for sure. If anything, I think kids today are better behaved than we were. We did a lot of partying and got into all kinds of trouble. I'd say kids today are more regulated, more in control, more grown up and more well adjusted than my generation was growing up (gen X).

Agreed.

Kids are the same as they've always been, and indeed the world is pretty much the same as it has always been. Crime, in nearly all its many faces, has fallen amazingly every century.

As we get older we change our stations in life, so we get hit by new things, which we take as being something new, when in reality it's been the same since forever.

Here in San Diego a bunch of high school kids from Torrey Pines High School grabbed some shovels, bats, and a bb gun, and went into a migrant camp and brutalized some workers a few years ago because they were bored. I think that was maybe 8 years ago?

Not saying to take your yacht damage with a grain of salt, but more than likely you've just been personally insulated from kid-borne problems for a while, more so than others, and less so than still others.

[shellback]

hi all,
Well just a friendly update, from what we've heard from the boatyard where we stored our boat on the hard during winter. They only had one more incident, which 6 sailboats were hit. bringing a total of 15 boats over a 2 1/2 week period.

The boatyard fully allowed us to launch early, which we did. Splashed a full week ahead of the normal boating season here on the Great Lakes. But would rather have her in the water than be subjective to kids being stupid.

Several other boaters, including myself did the early-launching thing and so far, not many issues occured after that.

Besides, if I'm on my boat and someone tries to board my boat without permission or an unwanted visitor.... I'll politely show them how cold the waters of the Fox River/Bay of Green Bay is by introducing them to it.

[hellosailor]

"I'll politely show them how cold the waters"
You really don't want to do that. Remember, throwing any kind of trash, even white trash, in the water is a MARPOL violation and a $10,000 fine.

[senormechanico]

hs,
I'm sure shellback just meant he would give them a crash course in swimming.