The 1974 Ford Flightcraft Spectre 351 has been missing since the early hours of Thursday, January 30. Photos: Supplied.
In her family for more than a decade, Kate Lee’s 1974 Flightcraft Spectre 351 Ford ski boat has been missing since the early hours of Thursday, January 30.
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It had been stored in a shed at a family property in Rochester, but Mrs Lee noticed the usually locked gates open later that morning.
“No-one lives at the house, and it was only being stored there the last four months,” she said.
“The gate was wide open, so I was thinking, ‘oh well, that’s not right’, then as I got closer and came through the gate there was a head torch.
“As soon as I got halfway down the drive, I could see the shipping container doors were wide open, and as I turned the corner, I could then see the shed was open, and the boat was missing.”
Other items were missing from the shed and shipping container, with both structures also ransacked.
Mrs Lee immediately called the police and posted to Facebook, reporting the boat as stolen.
The boat is well-loved in Kate Lee’s family and has been on many adventures.
At the time of the theft, the boat had a blue tarp and collapsed tower.
She has since had community members reach out, including one with camera footage from their homes of the boat travelling west on McKenzie St around 2.55am.
Since purchasing the boat around 12 years ago, Mrs Lee’s family has shared many memorable moments together on the water, from Mildura to Coopers Lake and the Campaspe.
“We love the old, classic-style boat you don’t see much anymore,” she said.
“It was lucky that we came across it at the time, and we purchased it.”
The support of the community to collate information and share Mrs Lee’s Facebook posts has been a big help to her family.
Since the incident, she has encouraged people to install cameras on their property.
“I definitely recommend cameras,” Mrs Lee said.
“You can actually track them to where they’re going, the direction they’ve travelled and the direction they take ... so the more cameras out there, really the better.”
Mrs Lee also thanked the Rochester police and Campaspe Crime Investigation Unit, who are currently investigating the theft.
To report information about the incident or crimes in general, call Rochester Police Station on 5484 1100 or head to crimestoppersvic.com.au
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