I saw this story about a sailboat that was stolen in Washington and sailed through both American and Canadian territorial waters and up to Alaska, even though the sailboat had been reported stolen. Too bad there isn't a "LoJack" for sailboats, maybe they would have caught the thief before he left the state. Boat theft sinks sailor's race hopes -- but with lots of help his dream is refloated Friday, June 21, 2002 By MIKE BARBER SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER More than a month ago, David Garman was well on his way to realizing his dream of sailing in the San Francisco-to-Hawaii Pacific Cup race that starts July 8. He had a specialized little ocean racer, a Santa Cruz 27, that he had named the Giant Slayer because it races bigger boats. He and his younger brother and a third sailor were polishing the savvy and skills they would need in the open ocean. But on May 5 after Garman and his crew had completed the first leg of a two-day Seattle-to-Port Townsend race, everything went tilt. After spending the night in a Port Townsend hotel, the sailors returned to find only bare dock where the Giant Slayer had been moored. Looking out into the broad international waters that melt into Canada and on to Alaska, Garman knew that looking for his little boat, and recovering his dream, was like trying to find a minnow in a very big pond. "Everybody else got mad, I just got sad," said Garman, a Boeing engineer. "The whole point of this mess, which makes it even more tragic, was to go on the Pacific Cup race. I bought this particular boat to do the race. But that disappeared, all the dreams were crushed after I had to unreserve all I had reserved to make the race." Then, last weekend, Garman regained his boat, and maybe his dream. The Giant Slayer was found in Ketchikan, Alaska, after a series of circumstances that had even Ketchikan Police Lt. Alan Bengaard seeing stars. "I'm not sure whether the planets are aligned for him or not," Bengaard said. "Rarely do we get a (stolen) boat from Washington." Cooling his heels in a Ketchikan jail is Timothy D. Sexton, 41, of Washington state. He was arrested for investigation of possessing stolen property and giving a fake name, Bengaard said. Kitsap County court records show that Sexton has previous convictions for eluding police, trespassing, drug violations and third-degree assault. Sexton was only recently released from jail in Kitsap County after pleading guilty in January to attempting to elude police. He received a three-month sentence. The vessel was recovered thanks to the keen eyes of Ketchikan sailor Jim Dahl, who was intrigued by the relatively rare boat. Garman figures there are probably only 10 in the Pacific Northwest. "Who would take basically a tiny boat, with no cushions, that you can't stand up in -- in fact, if you are kneeling you can't even kneel upright? For someone to pick this boat to steal was so stupid," Garman said. The boat he bought in 1998, worth about $10,000, "is strictly a racing boat, very small and uncomfortable," he said. "It's fairly unique; not that many, only 120, were made between 1977 and 1979." Dahl is only one of several strangers who buoyed Garman as he worked to make his hot racing boat too hot for a thief to keep. There was the Port Townsend police officer who took the stolen-boat report and then went a step further by contacting the nearby Indian Island Naval munitions depot, a high-security place that has lots of eyes on the water. The Navy verified that it saw the boat leave Port Townsend in the middle of the night, headed north, Garman said. Some weeks later, it was sighted in Canada. While U.S. and Canadian local and federal authorities began spreading the word, Garman blanketed marinas with letters and faxes, and wrote to 48 Degrees North, a widely distributed sailing magazine, describing his loss and asking for help. He sent a picture, too. After seeing the intriguing little boat at the marina on Saturday, Dahl went home and found his copy of the magazine in the mail. It didn't take long to put two and two together. Dahl called Garman, who quickly phoned Ketchikan police. They verified the boat's hull number and staked it out. Sexton was arrested Sunday night. The kindness of strangers, however, hasn't stopped. An Alaska Airlines ticket agent voluntarily knocked $780 off the price of a ticket to Ketchikan when she learned what happened, and he has been offered free lodging when he gets there next week to retrieve the Giant Slayer. He won't sail home, however. His insurance company wants the Giant Slayer shipped back. Garman, who has been sailing since he was a first-grader, said it will be hard still to realize his dream after years of taking safety courses, sailing and acquiring the right equipment. His third crewman signed on to another boat after the theft, so he's looking for another hand. "It took a month to set up everything to go on the race, and it has taken a month to undo it," he said. "But I'm still going to try to go. We will get the boat back in time with about five days to bolt everything on." But he may not have time to change the name of his boat, which the thief tried to disguise by renaming it. The new name: Tilt. "It's a good name, considering," Garman said.