Stolen course buoys

[Cnewbert]

I only recently became aware of this great forum, so this post is not exactly timely and probably won't produce any useful information at this point. But my curiosity remains about the theft of a set of brand new turn buoys from my club's slalom course on Lake Miona, Oxford, FL. Toward the end of last March we set out 6 brand new red Wally Skier turn buoys on the club course. And because this club is primarily older skiers, we also affixed a set of 6 green Wally Skier buoys inside of the regulation width red turn buoys for the benefit of novices or weaker skiers. Before we got a chance to even ski the course once, we had some windy weather so it was 10 days later before we finally went out to ski. What we found was that someone had swiped every single new Wally Skier buoy, leaving behind only the entry and exit gates and the boat guides, all of which were just cheapo Overtons or similar. Now, no one else ever skis on this lake. The only other boats we ever see are fishermen. Yet, someone obviously recognized the relative value of the Wally Skier buoys vs. the others, and just took the expensive ones. I doubt the average fisherman would know the difference, much less have use for 12 slalom turn buoys. So it remains a bit of a mystery. But if anyone on this forum knows of a course that suddenly sprouted some brand new Wally Skier red turn buoys, particularly if they also installed some green novice buoys as well, sometime around the end of March or early April, I'd love to know more about it. There would be no way to prove they're ours, and it's too late to do anything about it anyhow so I wouldn't even try. It's just one of those things a person would like some answers to. Kindly PM me with any info. Thanks!

[klindy]

That stinks! Always frustrating when people can't leave other peoples stuff alone.

 

It's unlikely that someone from off the lake recognized the new buoys, launched a boat and took them to another lake, Best guess would be that someone on that lake saw there were new buoys installed and decided to take them. Obviously a "friend of a friend" might have swiped them for a buddy on another lake.

 

Is it possible some fisherman took them to slow/stop the skiing? Take a slow cruise around the lake and look on or near the shore for them. As you know a pile of 12 inflated buoys is a pretty big pile. It takes some effort not only to get them but to carry them away from the lake.

 

In a former life on a public lake we had to remove the skier buoys to prevent them from being taken or used as an anchor point or otherwise damaged by jet skiers or bigger boats. A simple bungee cord make quick work of attaching and detaching them between sets.

 

Good luck finding them!!

[Wish]

My entire course (float) was distroyed many years back. We know who did it but no proof to make a charge stick. Over $1000 in damage so it was a felony. What we did was mailed/distributed flyers to all the neighbors (including the guy) stating that the course was vandalized and if anyone knew or had info to contact local police and references case number included. I actually spoke to the guy face to face (again 0 proof) and calmly explained what "someone else" had done and that I filed a police report and if cought it would be a felony charge. His eyes got HUGE and he sputtered on about what a big shock it was to hear. I suggest doing the same even though yours does not rise to felony level. Just flyers sent out saying "recent vandalism and theft on the lake" and be neighborly about it and suggest "folks keep a close watch over their own property and their neighbors". Sort of a back door way to get a lake neighborhood watch created. Guilty party will feel watched...they always do. Happy to report no problems since and the guy that did it has been extra mindful of our skiing in a good way. Win!

[spicoli]

We've had ours stole ,knifed,once we put course up and a man that didn't like anyone to have fun took them and burned in a barrel right in frt of us but its public lake without permit so all you can do is move on.

[Ilivetoski]

Would bet anything it was fisherman

[Nando]

Might have been someone who wanted nice buoys to mark something or maybe the theories about them being taken just to mess with you. Weirdest thing we had happen with a public course was we once came out to ski and every ball was tied about a foot under water. Someone took a lot of effort to do that! We never did figure out if it was vandalism or one of our buddies messing with us. We had a theory that it was a kid we skied with occasionally who we had mentioned removing turn balls on weekends to and he took it upon himself to prevent the wallys from skiing our course. If it was him, he never let on...

[DavidN]

That’s terrible! And after just ordering a set from Wally last night myself, I can imagine how that hurts your ski club.

And I can’t believe that no one spotted the removal of 12 buoys on your course!

That must have taken quite some time and there are a bunch of houses on the north shore as well as on the west side of the lake. Did you or one of your club members approach these neighbors to ask if anyone might have seen something?

I highly doubt that some fellow course skier would even consider stealing buoys!

Therefore I don’t think that your buoys will show up on someone else’s slalom course.

Did you check local ads like FB Marketplace or Craigslist after the theft?

 

[Bruce_Butterfield]

Could be beavers. Were the buoys unclipped, cut off or chewed?

[igkya]

The damn beaver. Expensive and always causing problems.

[Orlando76]

Not very many 4 legged beavers in Florida.

[Cnewbert]

klindy, yeah, the course can barely be seen from the park, and not at all from anywhere else on the lake unless someone knew what to look for specifically, so it had to be someone already on the lake in a boat as you'd never know from shore if the course was even there, let alone have new buoys. Probably a crime of opportunity, rather than anything else. Since the replacement cheap buoys have not been tampered with ever since, it's unlikely that someone was trying to stop the skiing. In any case, the club members do as much or more free skiing than skiing the course, so taking the buoys would not have slowed or stopped the skiing. But again, the fact that perfectly good guide and gate buoys were untouched suggests that whoever took them knew the Wally Skiers were higher priced and of superior quality. Even many casual skiers would not even know the difference, so that's why I think whoever did this knew what they were doing. We checked the shoreline all around the lake. These were definitely swiped. Wish, I like your strategy, but too late for us. This happened months ago. Like spicoli suggested, we have moved on. Ilivetoski, doubt it was fishermen, unless they happened to be educated skiers as well, since, again, they only took the expensive buoys. The average fisherman would likely think the Overtons were just a good. Nando, I think if someone just wanted to mark something, they would have taken the perfectly good boat guides as well, rather than run the full length of the course on both sides snatching only the turn balls. Weird what happened to your course! DavidN, well, it's only money. But I'm unlikely to spring for nice buoys again only to have them walk. It would have been hard to really spot anyone taking them, particularly very early or late in the day. The course is well away from any easy observation, and sometimes there is no one on the lake at all, so a lone fishing boat could have taken all 12 in a matter of minutes. They did leave the nice bungy's I made up with adjustable hooks, so they could have been even bigger jerks! The course is at the east end, well away from the houses on the west shore a mile away. And there are no houses on the northeast shore, so someone could have done this quite easily unobserved if the lake was otherwise empty. I don't like to think another course skier would take them, but again, someone was educated about the relative merits of different buoy brands. I figured finding these was an exercise in futility, so other than putting the word out to some skiers I knew, I just wrote it off to experience. Bruce, the buoys were attached by Wally's adjustable hooks plus cable ties for extra security. The thieves cut the cable ties and unhooked the buoys, leaving everything else. If I were ever to spring for nice buoys again I think I'd find a unique way to mark them so they could be readily identified and perhaps less likely to be stolen as a result. But they could well be in a different state for all I know. That's life! I just thought it would be interesting to post this on the forum for the very remote chance someone knew something, since the forum reaches such a wide audience.

[lpskier]

@klindy I noticed new buoys at your course right about that time...

 

Could be a gator. I have heard of gators eating slalom course buoys and I’ve heard they have a preference for color, but whether it is red, yellow or green I don’t recall. I have never actually witnessed a gator eating a buoy or even suspected it on our course in Orlando.

[gregy]

Did ya'll kick someone out of the club or something. Seems like since you just set them up that it was someone with inside information.

[Cnewbert]

lpskier, not a gator either. They might puncture a buoy on occasion, but these all had the cable ties cut and were then unhooked from the locking, adjustable hooks, leaving the bungy and hooks cleanly behind. And there’s no reason why an animal of any kind would discriminate against the guide buoys and only go after the high priced balls. Anyhow, they sure wouldn’t taste good no matter what. Especially all 12 of them. Gregy, that’s a decent theory for sure. I don’t run the club, so I’m not sure if anyone got kicked out. But skiing had not yet begun for the season, so it’s unlikely. Besides, I bought the buoys myself and I get along great with all the club members. I was just trying to upgrade the course for everyone’s benefit.

[ESPNSkier]

A couple of years ago I had the entrance gate buoys and buoys #1 and 2 popped several times over the course of a month or so. It was always on the same end of the course and happened 3 or 4 times. I thought someone was messing with the course until I noticed bite marks on the bottom of the buoys. Funny, I never noticed any marks on the boat guides at that end, just the red balls. I guess gators like red balls.

[Cnewbert]

ESPNSkier, I wonder if maybe some bird or other gator food might land on rest on the red balls for some reason, and the gators popped the balls going for dinner. Though I don't know why a bird would care about the color. Then again, I've never been a bird.

[mmosley899]

@Cnewbert use a permanent marker to put your initials on the buoy when you inflate them...

[Cnewbert]

mmosley899, I think you are exactly right. And perhaps on top where the initials or some unique form of marking can be readily seen from a boat. Next time!

[Jordan]

@spicoli What happened to you was illegal. it matters little that it was public water or if you didn't have a permit. that guy damaged your property.

If you have evidence, he would be both criinally and civily responsible.

 

For example, if I parked on your parking lot, you cannot purposefully damage my car. You can call the police, they can have the car towed and ticketed etc.

 

This guy could have called the proper authority for that body of water and they could have removed the course.

 

I would persue it!

[Cnewbert]

Trouble is, Jordan, we have no idea who took them, have no idea where they might be, and really no way of proving they are mine even if we had a lead on a course that suddenly and suspiciously sported some brand spankin' new red Wally Skier turn buoys plus a set of green Wally Skier novice buoys deployed about the same time ours were swiped. In truth, at this point it's a loss, but being curious in nature, I'd love to know the answer to the mystery. Had I known about this forum back when they were taken, I might have had a better chance of recovering them, if in fact a skier took them -- which, unfortunately, I think is the more likely case given the highly selective nature of which buoys were taken and which were left behind. At least they had good taste in turn buoys!

[Wish]

Don't discount a lake resident. What may be plausible is a resident seeing old faded buoys out there for years with some occasionally changed out. Then one day BOOM all new and all shiny signaling more of that dreaded skiing from those guys. Straw that broke camels back so to speak. I'll show them says the disgruntled neighbor...shiny new buoys gone over night.

 

The officer that took my complaint did not see anything other then one or two boys that were left. All I did was show him picture of the course that used to be there and pictures and prices of what replacing it all would cost. How the heck is he gonna know all the SS cables, fittings and PVC and gear were even under the water? He took my word for it because it all made sense. I did not expect to recover much of anything nor did I think he was going to go arrest or even talk to the guy. What I did want was it to be on the record with local police in case it happened again. You lost close to $250 in buoys. I'd be filing a report if someone stole my bike worth that. Curiosity on who did it and where are the buoys now aint gonna do spit to help you resolve this. Action will. Your options are to go to the police, file a report and send out the flyers creating that back door a neighborhood watch. Yep, it is a bit of effort. But you are asking for it to happen again if you do nothing and the sympathy you find here will be far less without it.

[Cnewbert]

Wish, the course is at the opposite corner of the lake from the houses and no houses are anywhere near the course. The houses are a good mile away and the course can’t even be seen from them. Plus, if I were a disgruntled lake resident intending on disrupting the skiing, I’d take all the buoys, not leave nearly half of them. And while I was at it, I probably would have cut all the bungys as long as I was being a jerk. I didn’t post this incident for sympathy. I thought there was at least a very remote chance someone may know something about it. But as mentioned, this happened at the end of March, so it’s much too late to file a police report. I should have done it at the time as you suggest.

[aupatking]

I’m really hoping to see a post here where someone says @Cnewbert, I saw new Wally’s on this lake or that lake at the same time, but that is unlikely. For me, if someone stole my Wally’s, I’d be mad, and wonder who else skis the course in my area. I thought I knew them all. All 6 of us!

[Stevie Boy]

@Cnewbert if you put some new Wally's out there, I put money on it they will be back for them as well.

Is that called Entrapment ?

[A_B]

Could be Muskrat love. We found lines carried into their dens with the buoys still attached and too wide to fit in the opening.

 

Likely your Muskrats walk upright and drink Billy Beer though.

 

Maybe spray paint the radioactive symbol on each buoy?

[Cnewbert]

aupatking, I was more annoyed than mad. After all, I never got to ski the upgraded course even once! To the best of our knowledge, no one else skis the lake. I myself live an hour away, so I wouldn’t know. But the Village dragon boat teams that practice on the lake all the time seem to think we are the only skiers. Could have been a one-timer though. Stevie Boy, since the Overtons get the job done, and are apparently not worth enough to steal, we’ll stick with those I guess. A_B, I like your suggestion!

[Orlando76]

Well heck there you go, boat teams did it. I’d rather deal with jetskiers than those damn guys. My respect for them has completely disappeared when I skied.