Regatta organisers upset after safety boat is stolen

ORGANISERS of the Wargrave and Shiplake Regatta are upset after one of their boats went missing.

Tony Drew, a white Dory, was suspected stolen between August 16 and 18 from a riverside property in Wargrave.

The 15-year-old boat is used by the Wargrave Boating Club and Wargrave Triathlon as a marshal boat and used during the village’s annual Rag Regatta.

Carlton Barnard, who chairs the Wargrave and Shiplake regatta, said the working boat could cost thousands of pounds to replace if it is not found or returned to them.

A report was made to Thames Valley Police on August 25, a week after its disappearance. It was thought to have been spotted in Wallingford but was a false alarm.

Mr Barnard said: “We’ve gone out to all the groups on the river and notified them and the lock-keepers know about it but we still haven’t found it.

“The person who has taken it would have had to somehow start it as well because none of the keys were with it. Obviously, they’ve forced something on it to take it.

“We’re going to have to replace it but we don’t know how we’ll finance it yet because it’s our work boat. It’s used as the marshal boat for the practices.

“We do all our practices two weeks beforehand and it’s used as a work boat throughout the regatta and the lead up to the regatta as well. We use it to tie all our boats up for when they’re stored.”

Stuart Stubbs, a committee member, said its disappearance is “frustrating” as the committee can’t run future regattas without it.

Mr Stubbs, who runs a YouTube marketing agency in London, said: “We’re giving it time to see if it will turn up somewhere. We always hold out hope.

“For the regatta, it’s incredibly frustrating. We will need another boat to help run it next year. It’s an incredibly important part of it and it umpired the traditional punting races.

“We use it if we’re teaching. We do training sessions for the schools and we need it for that to make sure there’s a marshal boat out. It’s very frustrating. It’s a real shame that it’s happened but we’ve got to be pragmatic about these things.”

The boat had originally been a gift to the regatta after it was donated from a resident’s estate.

Mr Stubbs said: “The regatta is all run by volunteers and we’ve all got lives and families and work and the thought of having to go and source one of these, whether it’s new, whether it’s second hand, it’s going to take a lot of effort.

“The frustrating thing is that we’ve now got to go and find something similar. We don’t know if that same boat exists.

“I’m not sure the person who stole it probably knew that it was anything to do with a regatta. I genuinely think if somebody was in the village and had stolen it, then they would know its value or its
purpose. It’s probably been seen and taken on a chance.” The boat had also been stolen two years ago but members recovered it themselves after it was dumped at Marsh Lock in Henley.

Mr Stubbs said he had searched both stretches of the river on either side of where the regatta was held but to no avail.

He said: “I’ve been up and down the river. I’ve been up and down to the other side of Henley and I’ve been up to Sonning. I’ve been up both stretches either side of the regatta of the Wargrave stretch. There’s just been no sighting of it.

“The lock-keepers have been fantastic. They’ve put it out on their groups and they’ve all been keeping an eye out for it. They’ve got photos of it. However, the chances of ever finding it were going to be pretty slim. The hope is that it will turn up on an auction site or something like that.

“Whether insurance can cover the cost of finding a second-hand or replacement boat, we are yet to see and we have no idea on that front. If we have to raise money then it will be an absolute challenge to raise that kind of money to get another boat.”