Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
R670 000 reward for stolen yacht
A R670 000 reward is being offered after a Cape Town couple’s luxury yacht was stolen in Croatia last month.
The 17m-long vessel, Mischief, valued at R13.4 million, was officially reported stolen on July 15.
Mischief was allegedly spotted in locations around Greece a few days after it vanished but, according to authorities, the information provided did not match her features.
Husband and wife duo, Hylton and Ingrid Hale, have been sailing and racing yachts for four decades, and had had Mischief only for a year.
“It’s now exactly a month since she disappeared. We are coming to terms with the fact that we may not get our yacht back. You don’t expect someone to steal a boat. But we are still hopeful,” said Ingrid, who owns a media company.
“We bought her brand new during the Covid-19 pandemic. We chose Croatia because the country is beautiful and the people there are amazing. Our last vacation on the yacht was in June this year.”
A month later a couple chartered Mischief using false passports and hired a skipper from Latvia.
While the skipper was allegedly on-shore for dinner, the clients took off with the boat.
Hylton said the circumstances surrounding Mischief’s disappearance were bizarre.
“The skipper shouldn’t have left the boat. We were told at some point that it could have been stolen in order to sell it or for high-end immigration.
“The clients paid ¤7 294 in cash to charter the yacht and an additional ¤3 000 euros for insurance. That should have been a red flag. But in Croatia it’s easier to charter a boat than to hire a car.”
The yacht’s tracking device was dismantled and left afloat in a waterproof container.
A sales adviser from Croatia Yachting, Igor Karmelić, said as the investigation was under way, the police were not able to share many details.
“What we found out from them is that they held the Latvian skipper for questioning as he was the one that had initially informed us that the boat was stolen while he was on shore. But they could not prove that he was involved in the theft and eventually let him go after intense questioning,” said Karmelić.
He added that the police also notified authorities of Mediterranean countries.
“What we have done on our part is to inform the association of all marinas in Greece and other marinas. We have also used our social media and a large number of subscribers to our newsletters. We have also passed on to the investigators all tips received.”
Karmelić said the insurance company hired Marine Claims Service to search for the boat.
The insurance firm also issued a reward of 5% (R670k) of the yacht’s value if she was found in a good condition.
Karmelić said that such incidents did not happen often in Croatia.
“It is the first time that it has happened to us in our 18 years in charter. Croatia is the world’s biggest charter market and with all the boats here it is bound to happen on occasion. Sailing in Croatia and owning a yacht is very safe and this should be considered as an isolated incident,” he said.
However, Hylton said they were told of a similar incident where once the boat was found, it took around 10 months for the owners to get it back
Karmelić said the yacht has unique features. These included a black mast and boom, a full batten mainsail, a second forestay, and a T-shaped deep keel which would be recognisable when the yacht was in dry dock.