CHANGES valiantskipper@gmail.com. My current understanding is that it was started in the mid-'90s by a Canadian cruiser and by the late '90s had as many as 100 vessels checking in." "I saw the story from Sea Dream about our dinghy and outboard being stolen at San Juanico, Baja," write Eric and Caroline Stephan of Indara, a Norseman 447 from Gig Harbor, WA. "The night they got stolen was the first night in 13 years of sailing that we'd left them in the water! I was repairing the outboard crane and said to myself, "San Juanico is about as mellow a place as there is." So I didn't put the outboard on the boat. Did we ever pay for that bad judgment! Since so many cruisers read 'Lectronic and Latitude, here's a brief description: The dinghy was a grey AB 9-ft inflatable with a fiberglass floor and two dinghy wheel brackets in the stern. There were also two metal loops epoxied to the sole to hold black webbing for the gas tank, and two extra 'D' rings on the side of the port tube for a lifting strap. The outboard was a two-year-old Tohatsu 9.8 HP, painted flat black, with
by the thieves. "The following day, the San Evaristo pescadores met with authorities, including Governor Marcos Covarrubias, in La Paz. A press conference was held to let the whole country know that such thefts were on the upswing. There had been a similar theft of six pangas from the waters of La Paz in March. The thefts are devastating to the locals, as in many cases fishing is a family's sole means of support. Further, most pangas are shared by two or three families, with the fishermen trading days or shifts to make the most of the panga. The Mexican government is helping the pangueros with a credit for up to 50% of the estimated replacement cost, but some will have to wait as long as two months for new pangas to be built. Steve and Charlotte Baker of the Sonoma-based Catalina 27 Willful Simplicity, who are longtime supporters of the villagers of San Evaristo, are looking for those of us more fortunate to lend a hand. If you'd like to help, email Tom and Jeanne of the Seattle-based Islander Freeport 36 Eagle: bigleftturn@gmail.com.
attached duct tape. There are two stainless loops mounted on each side of the cover for lifting. We can be reached at ericstephanindara@gmail.com." Forget cruiser dinghies, thieves want big four-strokes! "On the night of May 15, twelve fishing pangas went missing from their shallow-water moorings at the San Evaristo anchorage between Loreto and La Paz," reports Wendy Cummings. News of the theft was broadcast to pangueros and cruisers alike throughout the day on VHF radio. That afternoon four stripped pangas were found floating in the waters of the San Jose Channel. All the gear, including outboards, was gone. The targets of recent thefts seem to be fuelsipping big 4-stroke engines. The thieves take the boats offshore long enough to strip the boats of the outboards and gear. In a few cases, stolen pangas were discovered high, dry and stripped on mainland Mexico. In other cases, the pangas are reported to have been sunk
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