It seems to me that i see a new listing about stolen gear nearly every day on seabreeze lately & with the windsurfing community alerted it must be very hard to shift & you wouldnt want to use the stuff yourself at the risk of being seen by the previouse owner so were does all of it go? & why the sudden increase in theft i notice its from all around the country .I cant see it being sold overseas as there are much more windsurfers overseas so much more second hand gear is for sale there, i just cant see the profit for the hassle being worth it.So why is it happening?
Windsurfing gear has probably always been stolen and possibly more stolen in the past when it was a more popular sport, especially in the 80s. Possibly what we see now is with Seabreeze is a community across Australia where we can report stolen gear.
If your gear was stolen in the 80s or 90s who could know about it? The police, the local windsurf shop and a few fellow windsurfers at most. Nowdays if something like this happens hundreds will know about it within a few days.
Where does the gear go? Probably most of it ends up dumped somewhere once the thieves realise the stuff is basically worthless to them, ie it can't be easily converted into cash.
Is it worth having a 'stolen' page on the buy and sell forum?
I wouldn't want to be inadvertantly picking up a cheap secondhand sail only to find it was nicked a few months prior.
Hey is there any way to engrave boards masts and booms mabe with your lisence plate number Some people do this with there kayacks.
I like your idea crusty sailer .Would definatly be a deterent to theives if they new it all got listed .even the kiters might like that.I mean i know people can be absolute sh#ts .somebody stole my sons scooter while he was plaster painting at a caravan park ,had my feelings it was a grown man saw him riding same scooter with the handles now electrical taped up couldnt prove it .have to engrave all stuff like this in future so i can prove it .wasnt happy.
thefts suck.
I had my 15HP outboard stolen a few years ago.
if I knew there was an active (local) sailing website that was as busy as the windsurfing forums on seabreeze, it would have been worth posting.
I am trying to find a secondhand 5m sail at the moment, and if there was a 'stolen' page in the buy and sell, i'd be checking it just in case before a purchase was done.
Use a digital camera to record photos of serial numbers of boards both windsurf and SUP. That way you can alert the police, shops etc.
Not sure what to do about sails and other bits though.
Hi Laurie,
i'd expect to have to give my serial number, and detailed desciption, that's only fair.
By the same token, if someone rocked up on ebay selling same config kit 'on behalf of a friend', or you found the serial numbers had been tampered with, it would have to start raising a few eyebrows.
(going to photo my stuff tonight)
good to see the idea get up. even better if some nasty scumbag got what was deserved as a result.
crusty
I had a thought why cant u inplant a micro chip in boards, mast, booms i mean they can do it for pets its cheap can be in the material read with scanner .take your used masts to the pound to check. well something like that .probably be good for shops to make sure there not handling stolen goods.could be so easily built in i bet .
Why not just fill all our boards with C4 and a remote cellular detonator and if your gear gets lifted just call and......KABOOM!!!!
Just an idea
On a serious note, A thread to post pics of stolen gear (if you have pics in the first place that is) is a good idea even if you don't have serial numbers. Most people in your local area know your kit and might recognize it. Club Marine has a section in the back of their magazine where all the stolen jetskis get posted, This must do some good or why have it.
You could also try one of the pens that work under UV light to write you details on your boards and sails...Not sure if their water proof or not but worth a try.
NOTE TO THE THEIF
Mr Theif, could you please stop stealing our much loved windsurfing gear and return to you jetski stealing ways...You'd be doing the world a big favour.
Cheers.
if a stolen item gets found via seabreeze website connection, a voluntary reward could be paid to the site.
i'd pay $50 if it meant my gear came back, plus it may help upkeep for the site to ensure it works for someone else down the track.
(geeze i'm such an ideas man...)
I had all my gear stolen back in the 90s, after a few false starts I tracked it down in the Trading Post 4 looong months later. I got it back with the help of a large mate, lots of photographs and a detailed description. The hardest places to keep in touch with now are the Cash Converters, there just not interested in handing hot gear back.
Never buy a “too good a price” gear…..stereos…. Tv….windsurfers or power tools. If we don,t buy it ,they carn,t sell it
It might be anal but I photograph or record the serial no of all my gear just in case
Love the idea of the stolen gear page, much better than a lost kite board 
Good luck for your gear search
Prevention is the go - I lock my boards with these tiedowns www.kanulock.com/ they have stainless steel cables running through them and the buckles lock with a key. They work well for me, however I designed them so I am slightly biased
I love a good invention hope your making some money out of it unlike most inventions .
There has been 5 listed in the last month 3 in nsw 2 in wa so does that mean it only happens at xmas ?
and didnt have any worries at all with gear or fear of it being stolen.......you would really need lots of time to cut/burn through these and then cut the steel cords, so for most thieves it just aint worth the time it would take. Top invention mate.
Select to expand quoteWhere I came undone last week is putting my key in a 4 digit combo surflock under the car. I am hypothesising they got into this to get the key and stole car and gear (otherwise as Moby pointed out on another thread, how would they have got passed the factory fitted immobiliser??)!!!! Thomas posted that the surf locks are easily picked once you know how.... www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Windsurfing/New-South-Wales/Stolen-Car-and-Gear-Lake-Cathie-port-Macquarie/
So once they had the car, they had the gear too.
So what do you guys do with your keys with the electronic heads when you are on the water??? I have had a look around the local surf shops for some sort of waterproof pouch I can wear on my arm or chuck into my wesuit and the surf store staff look at me with a WTF look on their face [}:)]
bugger,I was going to get one of those surf lock thingo's, as I thought it was the only answer. So yeah, i'd also like to know what other do regarding their keys. The local surfers I checked with just hide em under the car.....
Electronic keys -
I have seen people using spare keys with (no electronics). Gets them into the car or the boot at least, they take this key with them in the water. Lock their actual keys hidden in the car. Stegs you may be able to use your flooded key.
If you are going to use one of those combination key safes - I would hide it under the car, behind the wheel etc.. Its too much of a target when locked in sight.
Am I making any money from Lockable straps - surviving for 4-5yrs now. If it is windy I can usually sneak out for a sail and getting anual leave approved is pretty easy too, so there are advantages.
I have a set of those lockable straps and really like them. One of the best undocumented aspects of them is they work well when its windy. With normal roof rack straps, they are a pain to throw over the board in windy conditions. The strap blows all over the place. The security straps are heavy and not as affected by the wind as much.
We don't use the lock much as the board on the roof is so big and heavy its unlikely to be stolen. Plus its so high up its a mission to get it down.
Two thumbs up for the security straps.
You are a good lad.
I get a lot of use out of mine. One strap won't lock though. no matter how hard I try and push the buckle down, it just won't turn.
Still, a great design, and I'm very happy with them.
