dnjacobson79
04/18/13 #14187
24 hrs of hassle…
Last night I logged into email to reply to the build-up which had accumulated as I mended from a bad run of the man flu. As I sifted through the inbox, I opened an innocent looking email;
“Through some serious bartering I recently acquired a Fenn Kayak. I am not sure what it is as far as year and model. I am hoping you can help with this information. My wife and I thought we would enjoy a two seater but have decided we would rather sell it and purchase two single seat kayaks. This one is also way more advanced of a boat that we are as operators I have attached pictures to help identify it. It is 24 feet long if that helps.”
Not too uncommon sounding of an email, so I clicked the attachment and bingo, I was staring at a picture of our Fenn Elite Double. A quick phone call confirmed that the boat was missing from my folk's home & a little detective work narrowed the time frame of the boat being stolen to within the last week. Not to go into too much detail, but we thought the boat was in a safe location hung neatly below a deck - apparently not.
A quick search of Craigslist found the boat had just been posted on the Seattle site & said the boat was located in Burlington, so I went to bed knowing the boat was out there and someone to trying to move it. Obviously a Carbon Fenn Elite Double is a unique boat, and with the custom Sterling paint job and a Kiesling rudder added to the package, this boat is very unique. Thought process was that this boat could be sold to a potential new comer to the sport, but if it ever appeared at any events it would be easy to ID, but the fact remained the same - someone had cased my folks home, pulled off the heist of a 24 ft surfski, and now was trying to flip it.
9AM sharp I was at the Bham police station filing a theft report
10AM the ad had been taken off craigslist
Throughout the morning I was emailing the buyer 'Alan' trying to talk him into a meeting to purchase the boat.
Noon - Had the seller agree to meet me at a gas station in Skagit. Bham PD had advised to try to lure the seller into a 'sting' sale & as soon as the time/location was set, the Skagit Sheriff dept was contacted to seal the deal. I was fortunate to have Joost and Kirk (the back up muscle of the outfit) agree to accompany my father in a shadow car.
During the afternoon, 'Alan' shifted his focus to emailing bombing De at OPS regarding what price to ask for the boat, not knowing that everything he was emailing her was being forwarded to us in Bham. He phoned me on a 'restricted' number twice to verify that I'd be at the 6pm meeting. I thought I lost the deal when I told him I needed his number to agree to meet up, but was able to convince him that I wanted to purchase the boat to add to the southbound trailer (no such thing) that would be leaving Bellingham in the morning for far away markets.
5:45 - Arrived at the Skagit gas station, had not been there more than a minute when I was called by his 'restricted' number & that he would be a couple minutes late. Kind of had the feeling I was being watched, but also had Kirk & Joost inside the gas station enjoying the best of instant coffee & Skagit County Sheriff patrol cars on alert in the area ready to respond to a call as soon as the boat appeared.
6pm - another two calls from the restricted number saying he was coming, just going to be late.
6:10 - White Dodge pick-up appeared with double 'tied' to roof. He pulled right up to me, got out of the truck and first thing he said was “boat just fell off my truck, price for you just went down, sorry I'm late”
I was able to convince 'Alan' to take the boat off his truck for inspection so we could talk price. It was obvious that the boat had obtained some damage, but I played along with the haggling game as we unloaded to the boat. As soon as the boat hit the grass, my cap came off as the 'go' signal, and like clockwork, Joost and Kirk appeared from the surroundings followed by two of Skagit's finest gun packing sheriff deputies.
Obviously, 'Alan' quickly changed his story (I kid you not) to the 'I found the boat with friends on the side of the hwy, we went back the next day and it was still there, so I took it & thought it had been abandoned & thought I could sell it for something'. He also added a bit of 'down & out' factor to his story. He had asked me to bring $2500 cash to the meeting, not bad price or road trash.
He was cited, case is going to the DA. Everyone went home safe and sound. Significant damage to boat, but it is 'Sterling fixable'. Made it very clear to the Sheriff I'm motivated to work with the DA to press charges.
Lucky to have the boat back. Kind of a wake up call that someone would be gutsy enough to steal such a unique ski, even more gutsy (or clueless) the he was trying to flip it locally, very lucky that he by chance contacted me (the owner of the boat) while he was trying to flip it. Big thanks the Whatcom Police, Skagit Sheriff, Kirk & Joost for being the gas station muscle, and De for helping to bait the seller.
Please avoid yourself a similar headache and make sure your boat is securely stored and has some type of permanent ID marking.
Happy Paddling,
DJ
paul clement
04/19/13 #14188
Crazy story. Nice detective work on that one and you picked some pretty solid backup! Well done.
pc
Brandon Nelson <brandon@…> 04/19/13 #14189
DJ, I’m sorry about the damage and the hassle, but that is an awesome story. I LOVE the image of Joost and Kirk hiding out in the gas station, aviators on, Kirk with a matchstick hanging loosely from the corner of his mouth, Joost with a leather motorcycle jacket, ready to do the bad-ass, slow motion walk towards the action when it starts going down. Somewhere there had to be a Daisy Duke look-alike with her heart just pounding at the image of our boys… and in the Peter’s Film Fest-version we’ve got to get it to all end with Kirk flicking the match with his thumb and dropping it – slow-mo, of course – to blow the whole place sky-high as he and Joost casually walk off.
Priceless!!!
(But again, back to reality, sorry about the damage and the hassle. Bonehead thieves… I hope justice is served.)
B
Brandon Nelson
OPS 04/19/13 #14190
This whole thing made my day, except for the damaged ski part…
Endless spring break down here with 3 kids and their friends in the pool while Pat jets to South Africa. Had all the teenagers in on the action….what to say in the emails, when the “sting” was going down….intrigue in Costa Mesa..then when it was all over, texts flying back and forth that “they” got the guy and the ski was basically ok and wow, mom is cool and so are her friends.
But again, sorry about your ski DJ..but with sterling back in business…back on the water in no time.
De
Ocean Paddlesports
Reivers Dustin
04/19/13 #14191
So cool. And these particular three guys, Kirk/Joost/DJ are sticks of dynamite in blue jeans. They look like regular humans, but hello!?! I think most of those unbelievable Chuck Norris jokes are actually true about these three. You know, like: “There used to be a street called DJ, but it was changed because nobody crosses DJ and lives.”, or “Joost has a grizzly bear carpet in his room. The bear isn't dead, it is just afraid to move.” or, “Kirk doesn't call the wrong number. You answer the wrong phone.” or “DJ and Superman once fought each other on a bet. The loser had to wear his underwear on the outside of his pants.” or “Death once had a near-Joost experience.” or “Kirk is the reason Waldo is hiding.” or “DJ does not sleep, he waits.”
Like that.
zach
04/20/13 #14194
That is such a crazy story. So rare to actually recover stolen stuff. Do you mind if I forward the story onto the Midwest performance paddler yahoo group? Everyone back here would take interest.
I had kayak stuff stolen once. A decade ago when I was a sea kayak instructor in Boston, all the guides at charles river canoe and kayak took an end of season paddle across the straight to marthas vineyard. About 8 of us if i recall. It was October, blowing snow, and big seas. We were cold when we got to the island, so we pulled up our boats, changed into dry clothes, and ran into a pub to get some beer and soup. When we came out an hour later, everything had been stolen except the kayaks. Paddles, all our gear, all the supplies we had brought for spending the night on the island. Police were notified immediately, but even on a small island with a tiny off season population nobody got caught.
So your story makes me warm and fuzzy, except for the boat damage part. Hope that the idiot gets punished then turns his life around.
Zach
njcooksey@ymail.com
04/20/13 #14195
A very similar thing happened to Alder Creek kayak down in portland except with dry suits. One of the shop guys set up a sting to buy back the suits. When he saw it, the thief had not bothered to remove the shop's sticker off the price tag.
-Nick Cooksey
Larry <lbussinger@…> 04/20/13 #14196
Hey Reivers, how come DJ never asked us to help? Larry B