Rescue and Recovery

This morning was action packed when we heard that an Albury 20 was found bashing against someone's dock at the north end of Elbow Cay. The name they gave on the morning Cruiser's Net sounded a lot like one of the club member's boats, so we jumped in the skiff and headed out. Sure enough, the name Kestrel had been mispronounced and we found the boat hard aground at low tide. Anchors were set to keep it off the dock, and Dave and I went back home to wait for the tide to come up.

At 11 AM, Kestrel was floating and we rigged up a two point bridle to tow it over to our back dock in the pond, where it can stay until it gets hauled out in the morning. Ironically the boat was scheduled to be put into storage on Monday anyway.

Kestrel had a bimini top on it, which wasn't damaged, but all the straps that hold it up were totally chafed through from being under the dock. The main damage was on the outboard motor where it rubbed right through the engine cowling, damaging some of the internal components.

Meanwhile, we discovered why the boat ended up where it did. It was actually stolen from the North End boat basin and it was headed out to the Sea of Abaco. The owner was smart and had a fuel shut off that the thieves couldn't find, so they abandoned it, and it washed ashore at the dock on Nathan's Beach. Then we were told two other boats were stolen last night, all of which had Yamaha engines on them, which is what the 'teefs' are looking for. Luckily a BOLO (Be On The Look Out) went out and both were found in the back creeks by Snake Cay before the engines could be removed. This is all such a shame to see happening here in Abaco, and we sure wish the culprits would be caught. Dave takes extra precautions on both our boats with chains, locks and fuel shut offs. Then we just keep our fingers crossed that they are still at the dock in the morning.