Following an outboard motor theft from their boat park in the small hours of Monday morning, Wicklow Sailing Club are advising other clubs – particularly those with stand-alone locations like WSC – of the risk of organised equipment theft even when every precaution has been taken.
It is known from limited CCTV footage from a camera on the clubhouse that those responsible arrived with a car and trailer. But having broken into the boat park from the side away from the clubhouse by accessing the barrier from the lifeboat slip, and then cutting through the fence, the in-yard CCTV camera was then bent away so that it recorded little of the crime.
The club had three RIB engines stolen from the boat-park. They had outboard locks on, were chained and padlocked to the ground, and thought to be safe inside a locked boat yard. But within minutes the thieves cut through the chain link fence, then cut through the padlocks and everything else.
The outboards stolen include are a Mariner 40 (new last season), a Suzuki 25 and a Yamaha 15. The Gardai are now liaising with other CCTV camera owners on the approaches to the club to see if any further coverage is available.
