IN ANOTHER blow to a club already recovering from flood damage, heartless thieves have stolen about $20,000 of radio equipment and outboard motors from the Lake Barrington-based Tasmanian Rowing Club.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Thieves stole two Yamaha 6hp outboard boat motors, an 18hp Tohatsu outboard motor, 12 GME hand-held radios, a Makita angle grinder, Stihl brush cutter and a chainsaw.
Rowing Tasmania executive officer Rob Prescott arrived at the club on Friday morning to survey the damage.
He described the damage as “senseless vandalism” and said it was another hurdle to overcome after floods damaged the rowing facility earlier this year.
“We’ve copped a bit of a belting,” he said.
The three outboard boat motors stolen from the club were due to be used by volunteers this weekend to conduct repairs to the course.
Mr Prescott has questioned what use the thieves will get out of stealing the 12 radios, which are all set to the rowing club’s channel.
“I’m not quite sure what use they’re going to be because they’re all set on our own frequency,” he said.
“To lose 12 of them, we have to dip into our coffers and replace those fairly quickly because our first regatta is towards the end of October.”
But the determined Rowing Tasmania executive will not let thieves ruin the first regatta in October.
“We will make it work - we won’t compromise safety,” he said. “If we have to dip into our coffers and buy the radios before any insurances claims are done so be it.”
In a cruel blow, the boat motors stolen this week were bought about 12 months ago to replace others that were stolen. Mr Prescott cited flooding in June and said there were worse things that could happen.
“It’s a minor thing compared to some of the farmers with their livestock lost and damage to property, the people in Latrobe where there was loss of life and loss of property – on the scale of things what’s happened up here is insignificant,” he said.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.