Boatie stumped by missing Spitfire

April 26, 2017

Boatie stumped by missing Spitfire

Geoff Hunt feels someone in the community must know something about his stolen boat. Photo: Supplied

An Auckland man is puzzled over the disappearance of his 20ft yacht – it hasn’t been spotted for more than a month.

Geoff Hunt said his boat ‘Spitfire’ disappeared between the evening of March 15 and morning of March 16.

Mr Hunt said he parked his boat at the Takapuna boat ramp carpark in November, with permission from Auckland Council.

The yachtsman said he was planning to move the boat to a building shed for it to be restored, but when the tow truck turned up last month, Spitfire was nowhere to be seen.

“A friend of mine rang me and said: ‘It’s gone’. I thought he was having me on.”

Mr Hunt said although he was disappointed, it wasn’t the boat that mattered, but the story behind it.

The boat was intended for his son Ryan, 19, who has Asperger syndrome.

“We’ve discovered that sailing really helps him…It just brings peace to him.”

If he could get the boat back, “no questions asked”, Mr Hunt said he wanted to help disadvantaged youths take up sailing.

“Sometimes in life you go out and you steal some wine gums, but this is a boat…What we’re trying to say is you may have taken it at a weak moment and we don't have problem with that, but we just want to sort it out.”

The 63-year-old said he’d reported the Spitfire’s disappearance to police.

He was convinced someone in the community “must know something”.

“It’s not invisible…It’s bright blue and yellow.”

Auckland Council parks and community facilities spokesman Michael Smith referred Te Waha Nui to police.

Senior Sergeant Scott Cunningham, acting area prevention manager for North Shore, said they were looking into the boat’s disappearance.

“Police can confirm they are continuing to make enquiries into a missing yacht which was stolen from The Promenade in Takapuna.”

Mr Cunningham said police had not yet been able to source any relevant CCTV from the area.

However, once police received a photo of the stolen boat they would add it to their stolen boat database and send an alert out to other boat users.

“Our advice to boat owners who are leaving their boat in a carpark is that there are several devices to help prevent trailers being removed, including wheel clamps, locks on tow-balls of the trailer or chaining the trailer to something like a bolted ring that cannot be cut off easily.”

Senior Sergeant Cunningham also wanted to remind the community to report any suspicious behaviour to police immediately.

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