The Ride A Wave Foundation (ww.rideawave.org) had one of it’s 11’ softop
rescue boards stolen at C-Street in Ventura on Saturday. We were down
from Santa Cruz helping the Bestday Foundation take a bunch of kids with
disabilities surfing. Man, we work so hard to bring the joy of surfing
into these kids lives- no paid staff all volunteer. I am so bummed- who
would do such a thing? If you see someone with the board grab it- if you
know who has it tell them to give it back- all will be forgiven.
Stealing from a group like ours is not good. Your mother raised you better.
Please help us out- we scrape together nickles and dimes to make the program work: find the board and get it back to us.
The group we worked with does not have the board. We are checking all possiblities, that is one of them, thanks!. We will find it- it has to come out of hiding eventually.
Keep an eye out. My kid had his first custom surfboard stolen out of my garage a while back. Had an unusual airbrish, I was sure we’d find it. Never did.
Steiny, I will make this a mission to spread the word about your board. If it ever shows up here or nearby we will hear of it. I’d love to dent the head of the guy who stole it. Problem is, is that people come from distances that would shock you to surf here. Guys regularly drive from the Antelope Valley desert to surf here. If it is a local guy that has it, it will be found.
thank you everyone for your offers of help. no need to hand out a beat down to the thief or whoever bought the board from the thief. just getting the board back will be enough. i have made really good friends through this website- thanks again for the offers of help.
once, many years ago i retrieved a stolen board, here is the story of the that afternoon:
In my working past i was a farmer- a real, big pick-up driving, boot and
cowboy hat wearing, sun scorched creature. We farmed about 120 acres of
mixed vegetables on Santa Cruz’s North Coast and at the end of the
workday i looked pretty muddy, dusty and worn. I was checking it on the
way home from the ranch and saw a young man carrying my business
partner’s stolen yellow Haut down West Cliff Dr. I pulled my truck over,
pulled my baseball bat from behind the drivers seat, and puffed up big
as best as i could. I deepened my voice and yelled at the kid: “Either
the police are coming to sort this out or that board is going in the
back this here pick-up truck but there ain’t no third option”. I must
have been quite a sight- scary or silly (or both). The kid almost burst
into tears and was in the process of trying to explain himself when the
police arrived.One of the West Cliff neighbors had not liked the looks
of things and called 911. The responding officer surfed, knew me, knew
the board and did not know the kid. My partner had wisely reported the
board as stolen and so I didn’t even have to go downtown to collect the
board. They took the kid in but never pursued his case. Over the months
after my late afternoon exhibit of street justice I would see the thief
in the water, I managed to learn his name and was ceaselessly and
ridiculously over-friendly to him. I used his name in every sentence.
“that was a good wave Jim, you having fun Jim?, it sure is crowded out
here Jim” I even introduced him to the Haut’s rightful owner.
Eventually, he got the point and would paddle in if i paddled out. One
day he stopped showing up.
