From Latitude 38
March 2001

Bumps in the Night

Readers -- In the January issue we ran a Sightings item about Erik and Katriana Vader's new project: home-building a bare-hull Cal 46 into a cruising boat.  at the time, we asked them to keep us updated on progress.  Here's the (surprising) latest update.

Katriana, “what’s that noise?”, Erik asks as I groggily try to wake up and focus.  I listen to the scrabbling sounds outside our bedroom window, trying to determine their source.  “You got me” I counter. "Maybe a raccoon in the trash cans?”  We often find raccoons on our back deck or hear the dogs in the neighborhood barking excitedly, so that was the best conclusion I could come up with in my foggy state. 

A minute later I decide to open our shutters and tap on the window, hoping to frighten away the noisy animals.  But upon looking out and beginning my tapping session I realize two things simultaneously; first, the trash cans are not out front because it isn’t trash night, and second, there is a strange small white car parked in front of our house.  After I report the mysterious car to Erik , he grabs his robe and heads outside.  Meanwhile, in a very suspicious manner, the vehicle backs up rapidly, points itself downhill and speeds off.

Erik decides to perform a perfunctory check of the property, and upon finding nothing obviously amiss returns to bed suggesting that the car had probably just stopped to drop off trash or check a map.  I found this a rather doubtful at 4:00 am, but being basically lazy, I accept his conclusion and snuggle back under the comforter.

 Early the next morning, Erik, dutiful boat builder that he is, crosses the street with his first cup of joe to begin his morning’s work on Seayanika, the 49-ft bare hull we are converting into our new cruising home.  Two minutes later, he rushes back into the house fuming, “The boat!  They broke into the boat!”

I’m paralyzed with thoughts of total destruction of our last four months work and our future cruising plans.  I’m afraid to ask for a damage report, because I don’t want to hear the answer.  But sometimes fate is kind -- if you can call being robbed a kind fate -- for the sum of our loss was more material than vandalizing.  The thieves took off with our new generator, which provided our work site with its only source of power, four cordless drills, a power drill, a couple of sawzalls, the expensive respirator mask Erik uses when grinding fiberglass, and sundry drill bits, blades and attachments.   To add insult to injury, they also pocketed the set of keys Erik

unfortunately left inside the boat -- keys that happen to unlock everything we own, vehicles, houses, sheds, storage room and lock boxes.  This of course means, aside from replacing all of the pilfered tools and equipment, we need to re-key all of our doors and locks, including those pricey ones on the vehicles.

Did we learn something from this experience?  You betcha!  First and foremost, lax security on our most prized possession (assuming our wonderful daughter, Lanika, is not considered a possession) borders on stupidity.  The tools we can replace, but if major damage had been inflicted on the boat it may have proved project-threatening.  Second, a chain-link fence and a few padlocks will not keep out even a reluctant burglar.  We’ve installed motion detectors and alarms, spoken with the neighbors, filed a police report and vowed to prosecute if they find time in their busy schedule to find the culprits.  Finally, we acquired the best deterrent to any would-be thief:  We got a dog!