Distress over missing dinghy

A Busselton couple are appealing for the community’s help to return their missing dinghy which has given them and two elderly men much-needed activity and enjoyment.

John Sampson and two friends took the inflatable dinghy to its usual mooring point, 250m from the beach near Georgette Street, before sailing in their small boat on Sunday between 1pm and 4pm.

After discovering the dinghy was missing, the men were stranded and police had to get a fishing boat to pick them up.

Mr Sampson’s wife Carol said there were no witnesses and it was unclear whether the rope securing the dinghy had been cut with a knife or a boat propeller.

“We’d rather think it was accidental but that still doesn’t explain where the boat is,” she said.

“If it just drifted someone would have seen it.”

She said she hoped to recover the boat and had lodged a theft claim with police after she received inforamtion about its location yesterday, but could not recover it.

Mrs Sampson said the insurance excess would impose a financial burden as the couple were on disability support pensions and the dinghy allowed her husband and friends to get to their boat and stay active.

All three men were over 60 and two had serious degenerative conditions.

“They are not exactly serious sailors, but they love to get out on the bay once a week,” she said.

The couple have distributed notices and flyers and have asked anyone with information to contact them on 9754 8191 or 0400 542 256.