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?

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.

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.

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.

AJEaster said...

crustysailor said...

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.

Top idea Crusty. How about it Laurie?

For it to work, buyers would need to request serial numbers from sellers, and everybody would need to post serial numbers, yeah? Otherwise it's going to come down to "my sail had a sticker in the middle panel" ?

I've googled around, and not found any systems that work - open to ideas, however.

Without serial numbers, it won't work. From my experience working in a pawnbrokers as a lad, most theives were clever enough to erase the serial numbers...

laurie said...

AJEaster said...

crustysailor said...

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.

Top idea Crusty. How about it Laurie?

For it to work, buyers would need to request serial numbers from sellers, and everybody would need to post serial numbers, yeah? Otherwise it's going to come down to "my sail had a sticker in the middle panel" ?

I've googled around, and not found any systems that work - open to ideas, however.

Without serial numbers, it won't work. From my experience working in a pawnbrokers as a lad, most theives were clever enough to erase the serial numbers...

Absolutely serial numbers should be essential when selling stuff online, and a photo of the serial number so there are no porky pies.................no serial numbers being able to be quoted by a seller = not able to be listed on seabreeze? maybe too harsh? perhaps i am being a nazi after my theft experience! [}:)]

Anyway, I wouldnt buy anything that had the serial number obviously tampered with. If it has been removed through wear and tear that is different, and then the rest of the gear should also reflect the age/wear and tear as well I would think....i guess i am trying to say that tampering would be obvious.

Now for the WISH-LIST and I bet it is too out there - perhaps a serial number matching system which alerts the seabreeze forumite/owner of a registered stolen item if that items serial number is listed for sale on seabreeze. Now I know that someone half smart would check the stolen section before listing a product for sale.......but I guess if we cant stop people stealing stuff, then at the very least we can make it hard for them to sell it, and seabreeze being so popular, with this avenue closed it would just make it a bit harder to offload goods, especially outside WA. Lets get more technical, lets register this as a database where sailing / kiting shops can check serial numbers before trading/buying stuff, lets make it hard for the scum that take away our hard earned toys!

Anyway, prob just pie in the sky stuff, and I dont know anything about data storage space or programming so dont shoot me down too harshly please

REgards

Adam

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 .

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

phenton said...

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

My wife and I took 12 months off work in 2006-2007. Went round oz with my sailboard, surfboard and quiver bag loaded with sails, masts and booms all on the roof and secured with those tiedowns......surfed and sailed some really popular and some remote spots 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.

Where 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 [}:)]

AJEaster said...

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 [}:)]

Be careful! I used one of those in the past and it flooded destroying my key in the process. Replacement key was $250. Instead see if you can get hold of a plastic key for car entry only.

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.

phenton said...

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