TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums British Virgin Islands 44’ Beneteau Oceanis missing from North Sound

S/V Blue Highways is missing fro her mooring ball that is located near Leverick Bay Marina. She stays on the ball whenever we are back in the states. BH was on the ball yesterday and a friend called us today and indicated she was missing from the ball. After doing a full North Sound search...nothing anywhere! If anyone sees Blue Highways please PM me ASAP....thank you all!!!

Hope you find her

Here are some pics. The sailbag is now tan.

Wow, hope this turns out well! Let us know how this turns out..

We have friends that did a search all around the sound. No sign of her anywhere.

So scary!

If she is not on the rocks she is likely heading down island. Best of luck.

Did they check to see if the pennant snapped?
If it was stolen there’s a possibility it could be in St Maarten or San Juan provisioning, I suggest you report it to the US Coast Guard they Patrol the waters of the Caribbean.
Good luck.
BTW there is another serial number that’s hidden somewhere in the hull, Beneteau can let the authorities know where it’s located in case they find a similar boat with the SN removed.

The ball is floating and the pennant is intact. It’s like it vanished into thin air.

Someone must have stolen it, should be reported.

Nothing at Nanny Cay with that description (it was unlikely to be the case, but I looked anyway)

We talked to the VG police and filed a report. We also filed a report with the US Coast Guard as well. Given her location, even if she did break free, she would have most likely floated towards the docks, not in the sound. We had friends in a powerboat look everywhere in the sound and there is no sign of her anywhere. The engine was not working as it was being repaired.

If the engine isn’t working then they may have repaired it or taken it to Trellis, Roadtown or Charlotte Amalie where anchoring would be easy or sailed it to Fajardo or San Juan for repairs.
Another option would be to call C&I in Tortola and let them know that your boat was stolen and if it checked out... This will get them fired up and maybe they’ll try to catch the culprits or contact US C&I.

I have a feeling that people who steal boats don’t clear customs leaving. If the engine was not working it sounds like it was someone with decent sailing knowledge. Your Common thief might have untied the boat but once they discovered the inop engine would probably abandon it.
G

Honestly, that's what we are thinking... but multiple people have been looking all over North Sound. No sign of her.

Is this kind of theft common in BVI or wider Caribbean?

When I worked at a large Marina in the UK many years ago we had a stack about 6 inches deep of print-outs of all the Yachts stolen from the south coast of the UK. Hundreds and hundreds every year. So it was certainly very common there. Easy enough to spirit them away to so many different countries within a few day's sail.

Very, very long shot...but have you tried looking on Instagram? There are hundreds of photos posted by people every day with #BVI or #Leverickbay etc. You never know what could be lurking in the back of someone's holiday snap...

May you luck out, and due to the inop engine, they may have to engage engine repair shops, order parts, tear the boat apart to get to the engine and perhaps that might be noticed.

Might look up and notify marinas, and boat yards and maintenance companies thru the caribbean .

Problem is, if they get away with stealing your boat, and they make good bucks, selling or smuggling, they are likely to keep on stealing other vessels

They also might not expect for you to have been notified so quickly.

Beautiful vessel, lets hope they are found out, and locked up, and you get your vessel back.

If the coasties have airborne assets , that might help out also.

Maybe you can send out a letter sized photo with a very accurate description...and what might stand out to I.d your vessel. The white sail cover seemed to stand out, as well as the bimini, and what kind of looks
like an aqua colored sheer stripe. Also appears to be a documented vessel and no registration numbers.

We would be very active , and promulgate the large photos, and as much info on the vessel as possible. Harbor Police, Coasties, Customs, Marina Offices Boat Yards, Maintenance outfits, and fuel docks, ( the pirates will need water ) , Charter Companies, and provisioning stores, and brokers., Posters everywhere. How about vessels who pick up trash, sell ice, and snacks, etc. Put other people to work for you, and someone may remember seeing BH, and let the authorities know.
And have your contact info as well.

You can be pro active, and get the word out to other islands. You can email to the above outfits websites. Back the emails up with inserting the posters in envelopes and mailing them as well.

Just a suggestion, to add on to the others.

People who steal boats don’t check out, that’s the reason it would get the people at C&I pissed and they’ll try to catch the people who fooled them.

I would look closely at the people who are repairing the engine. They know your movements and they probably know how easy it is to fix. Not necessarily the people owning the repairers but the mechanics that work for them could be of interest.

I would agree with Mike. It seems like a inside job. If as mentioned it was a opportunity crime they would have moved on when the engine would not start.

I posted this link to Cruisers Forum to get more eyes out for the boat.

I went to Soper's Hole earlier today and checked out all the boats - no luck there, either.

Yacht theft is relatively rare in the Caribbean - it is hard to escape when your getaway vehicle moves at less than 7 knots and there aren't as many havens as one would expect. The French Islands are a likely destination immediately after theft since they do not require outbound clearance to make a yacht "legal" with inbound clearance.

Have you contacted https://safetyandsecuritynet.org ?

Joining the coconut Telegraph Facebook group could be helpful.

Another suggestion, check out https://safetyandsecuritynet.org/

....my first thought as well...

Any update on this from the original poster?

No sign of Blue Highways....police still investigating....did see a report of attempted theft of a dinghy on the same night BH disappeared at VGYH moorings. A couple awoke to people on board who were attempting to steal things, dinghy was locked to yacht. Apparently new moon nights attract the bad guys!

Did this vessel ever get located?

I was wondering the same just recently.

We have a device called Boat Command on our sailboat and it tracks GPS, batteries, power, etc.

It would be very helpful to the owners of Blue Highway.

Blue Highways has never been sighted or found.....we thank everyone for assisting in her unsuccessful retrieval. May she rest in peace! Signing out....Capt Jim and Marianne

Sorry to hear that.