STOLEN DRYSUIT in Ottawa

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wetman

Contributor
Messages
796
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Location
Peterborough, Ontario, Canada
Well you can add me to the members of the stolen drysuit club. Had my Bare ATR HD stolen last night (june 1). Its one of these:

http://www.bare-wetsuits.com/bareshop/diveproduct.asp?dept_id=21010&pf_id=61312

with blue sleeves and very big boots. Perfect condition. There was a T 100 undergarment and it was all in an Akona roller bag:

http://www.akona.com/Pages/AKB142.html

If anyone happens to see something similar pop up in the near future, there are some police waiting to talk to the new owners.

Thanks,

steve
 
It was a real bummer! As you said at least they didn't try opening the truck from the other side - they would have seen all the goodies from there!

One "good thing" - you still look good in neoprene! hehehehe
 
One of the things I love best about diving is the comraderie. It is hard to believe that there are people out there that do stuff like this to fellow divers. I am very sorry to hear about this
 
Well, my doubts are that it was a diver actually. It was in our hotel parking lot which was the Travelodge near highway 417 - no real reason to suspect a diver at all. The akona bags look like big suitcases so you really couldnt necessarily tell it was any diving equipment at all - and there are no stickers on the truck to indicate we're divers either.

But the worst part of the whole ordeal was that we were finishing our dives for the NAS 1 course and i had to rent a wetsuit. The one they had was a size or 3 too small and it took one hell of an effort to even zip it up let alone get it on. I could barely feel my extremities after a little while and I'm a cold wuss so i was shivering like a beast to finish the day. THAT part i hated. We were very luck more stuff wasnt taken and I truly cant believe how TRIVIALLY easy it is to break into a vehicle - it appears that a simple screwdriverwas just punctured into the door slightly under the key hole and wiggled a bit. Likely a 10 second job. GM truck for those who are interested. It appears that a slightly reinforced plate behind this area would be all thats needed to avert such an attack. Idiots.

Now i've got to get a new drysuit going and i hope it doesnt take too long.

steve
 
My drysuit was stolen just a few weeks ago in Hoodsport, Washington, so I know how much it sucks! A few good suggestions that people recommended when it happened to me, were:

Call/Email dive shops in the area, and send them a picture, if possible, so they can look out for it and alert the police if they see it.

Check on ebay (and other classifieds/auctions) to see if the thief is trying to sell it there.

Check area pawn shops.

I hope you find your drysuit, and the thief, too!

otter-cat
 
Originally posted by wetman
We were very luck more stuff wasnt taken and I truly cant believe how TRIVIALLY easy it is to break into a vehicle - it appears that a simple screwdriverwas just punctured into the door slightly under the key hole and wiggled a bit. Likely a 10 second job. GM truck for those who are interested. It appears that a slightly reinforced plate behind this area would be all thats needed to avert such an attack. Idiots.

Now i've got to get a new drysuit going and i hope it doesnt take too long.

steve

...I used to manage a service station. One of the un-official services we offered was a lock-out service (unlocking a car when you locked your keys in it). We were so good at this that I made a guarantee: 30 seconds or less on most vehicles or it was free. I've seen it all.

One particular afternoon, I was called to unlock a Mustang in a parking lot. The person locked the car with the car running while they went in to work out. Well, when they returned to the car, they realized that the spare keys were in a bag in the front seat with a wallet (loaded with cash and credit cards) that was clearly visible in the passenger seat. Well, I warned the person of how easy it was and gave the pitch, including my guarantee. The person laughed, saying they did this all the time and the dealer swore that there was no way to open the car without the key. I snickered and the person offered to triple my fee. I laughed harder and with a wisk of the tool, opened the passenger door in under 5 seconds.

I no longer work for a service station and am a little out of practice, but automobiles and trucks have not changed in the 10 years since I left that field. I will still stop in a parking garage when AAA or some other service is working on a car. I watch and after a few minutes, I offer my expertise. I'll usually work on one door while the other guy works on the other. I still can pop most cars within 60 seconds. The most time it took me was a BMW with it's engine running (some safety feature kept relocking the door).

A deputy friend of mine (a former MP) told me that the best way to prevent theft is to keep items out of the car/truck and the second best thing is to keep them out of sight.

Sorry to hear you lost your dry-suit, but even a plate would not have prevented a thief if he knew what he was doing.

Bear
 
I just hope other people learn from this. I'll be doing things much differently from now on, basically assuming anything in the vehicle is sitting out in the open. I just wish it wasn't the start of dive season that this happened. I've been so looking forward to getting out lots in the next while (and have been very conscious of how warm and toasty i've been on my recent dives). Oh well, live and learn i guess.

steve
 

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