There is a fantastic website for stolen boats with an apt name - http://www.stolenboats.org.uk/ - http://www.stolenboats.org.uk/  setup by the good people at Noble Marine for the entire marine industry.

Through the site you can get theft alerts, check if a boat you are wanting to buy is stolen. We link to it from all the class pages.

http://www.stolenboats.org.uk - www.stolenboats.org.uk does allow anyone to join a free "Theft Alert" mailing list.  This mailing list can be customised so that you only get to hear if a dinghy is stolen, but don't get inundated with reports of stolen jet Skis or speed boats etc.  Why not sign up - you can always remove yourself at any time.

As at today's date, 93 dinghies have been listed as stolen and the list grows ever longer

I've just checked out the website and a few things occurred to me:-

Lots of Laser get stolen - obvious really because they're light and smallish but if everyone was aware of it there is more chance of checking when you buy one and maybe reuniting owner and craft.

You can search by location (club) so you can get a rough idea what the security is like at a potential new sailing club, although it's not really fair to compare somwhere like Whitstable which is open to the road and the beach and Weston with a full compound (which has been upgraded since the boats listed were stolen).

We should all be more vigilant about strangers in or near the club and not be embarassed about challenging people or at least ask a longer standing member to do it. The first couple of times I went to Scaling Dam SC after I joined I was challenged and I thought it comforting.

I can't believe boats like Merlins and Furballs get stolen and dissapear, I would have thought them fairly traceable.

Matt

You are correct - Lasers do get stolen more frequently because they are all so similar and of course there are so many of them.  I too can't believe that Merlins and other such classes are stolen, because anyone knowing the class would be able to spot them a mile away. In the past the problem has been in circulating details of thefts, hence the reason we set up this web site and why we are so pleased that it has been adopted by the insurance industry as a whole and by the Police.

We are all guilty of being too trusting, and I know of many cases where boats have been stolen in broad daylight, by someone who looks the part (wearing the sailing clothes and shoes etc), turning up, hitching up a boat and driving off.  If you do see something suspicious, do something about it!

As with any new site, gaining public knowledge is always a problem and so anything that forum members can do to promote  http://www.stolenboats.org.uk - http://www.stolenboats.org.uk to fellow sailors, would be much appreciated.  I am convinced that by working together and sharing information like this we will solve the problem.

It would raise awreness if clubs included a link to  http://www.stolenboats.org - www.stolenboats.org on their own web sites.

I am glad to see that the window on the Y&Y homepage has caught your eye.

Buzz is right and clubs would be able to raise awareness by putting a link to http://www.stolenboats.org.uk - www.stolenboats.org.uk on their web sites.  It is even possible to upload a window like the one seen on  http://www.YachtsandYachting.com - www.YachtsandYachting.com  to display only stolen dinghies or something showing a particular class of boat that could be shown on a Class Association web site.  Any webmasters out there who would like something slightly different, then let me know.

Jon