Donated kayak part of 'great response' after Vancouver Lake thefts
By Bob Albrecht
Published: June 30, 2010, 12:00am
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On the same morning news surfaced about the theft of two kayaks from Vancouver Lake Crew this past weekend, Anita Roberts got a phone call.
“At 10 after seven, I got a call from someone wanting to donate a kayak,” the executive director of Vancouver Lake Crew said Tuesday as students polished a yellow racing shell nearby. “I hadn’t even seen the paper yet.”
The donated blue kayak that Roberts picked up earlier in the day lay nearby.
The contribution came as part of the “great response” Roberts said she’s received from people who have heard about not just the two stolen kayaks, but three others that were swiped in April.
This isn’t the first time Vancouver Lake Crew’s friends rallied to its aid.
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In January 2008, 400 volunteers descended on what was left of the shore-side mobile homes that make up the nonprofit organization’s facilities after a tornado ripped through, destroying buildings and more than 50 racing shells.
“We rally. We make do,” Roberts said.
They plan to do it again, with the help of donations such as the one received Tuesday from a man who asked not to be identified.
The kayak will replace either the red 2006 Necky Manitou, 14 feet long, that cost $1,100 new, or the 12-foot yellowish-orange Wilderness Pungo that cost $800 new, that were stolen over the weekend.
Even with the donation, Vancouver Lake Crew entered its summer camp season Monday down four kayaks.
“When you’re running a nonprofit on a shoestring, you can’t lose your equipment,” said Alan Stewart, a crew coach.
Camps are from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday for high school and college students. Participants ages 7 to 13 are split between two sessions daily, one from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and the other from 12:30 to 3 p.m.
The organization has access to more than 70 rowing shells, three canoes and seven kayaks. Much of its equipment is donated or borrowed. “The kids won’t know the difference,” Roberts said.
The recent theft that was believed to have occurred over the weekend was reported to the Vancouver Police Department on Monday.
It was also reported to Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe in Portland.
Dave Slover, the owner of the Portland-based retailer, said there’s no boat registry, but thefts are typically reported to his store so that information can be circulated among the close-knit watersport community.
“The secondary market for kayaks is really limited,” Slover said. “You can’t take them to a hawk shop. If they come to us and they don’t look like a kayaker, we won’t buy them. It’s not an easy ready-made-convert-to-cash kind of thing.”
Rather, he said, thefts of kayaks are born out of ease of opportunity.
“They are occasionally stolen because they’re on top of cars outside hotels or left on streets,” Slover said. “It’s a shame when it happens. A volunteer organization like that has got limited resources and they’re trying to do good things.”
The ones stolen from along Vancouver Lake were chained beneath mobile homes lofted about 4 feet off the ground. The thick metal chains and locks were discarded with bolt cutters.
Roberts said she’s monitoring Craigslist to see if the kayaks are put up for sale via the online marketplace. Her group has also taken measures to improve security.
“We’ve taken other measures,” Roberts said, though she declined to offer specifics out of fear thieves would take advantage of the information. “We’re definitely doing things different.”
