Somewhere out there on the high seas, someone is cruising around on Glen McIntosh's luxurious 57-foot sailboat, and he's not too happy about it, especially since he owned the vessel barely a week before it was stolen.<br /> 
<br />"This past weekend, when I realized I wasn't able to go sailing, that's when I got a little angry," said the Atlanta physician, an experienced seaman who has sailed much of the world.<br /><br />BENETEAU USA<br />This 57-foot, $750,000 luxury sailboat is identical to the boat that disappeared Jan. 7 from Charleston's City Marina.<br />McIntosh said at first he thought someone made a mistake or was playing a joke when he received a phone call a week ago informing him that his rare $750,000 Beneteau yacht had gone missing in the middle of the night from a slip at Charleston's City Marina on Lockwood Avenue.<br /><br />"This is one of those things that is just so bizarre that when the full story is finally unearthed, I'm sure it will be quite interesting," McIntosh said. "Right now I'm still adjusting to the amazement of it all. Incredulous has been my overwhelming reaction so far."<br /><br />Investigators say they also are amazed by the boat's disappearance and admit to being stumped about its whereabouts.<br /><br />"I don't remember any boat being stolen out of the harbors here, especially one of this size," said FBI Special Agent Robert Derr, who has worked in Charleston for 16 years. "I've never even heard of an 18-foot boat being stolen around here. And you certainly don't get too many $750,000 boats being stolen."<br /><br />Derr and Charleston police investigating the boat's disappearance have few clues. The only thing they say they are absolutely certain of is that the yacht, with a 75-foot mast and a weight of more than 47,000 pounds, didn't simply float off by itself.<br /><br />"It had to be somebody who knew what they were doing," Derr said. "It had to be somebody who knew the boat was seaworthy, and it had to be someone who knew how to operate it and navigate it."<br /><br />The saga of the missing yacht, so new it hadn't even been named yet, began when it was shipped from the Beneteau factory in France to a shipyard in Annapolis, Md., in May. That's where Chuck Laughlin, owner of St. Barts Yachts, went to take possession of the boat and sail it to his Beneteau dealership in Charleston. Laughlin had lined up a buyer for the boat, a man from North Carolina. But not long after, citing health reasons, the original buyer had Laughlin put the boat back on the market.<br /><br />Laughlin said inquiries soon poured in from all over the world. The 57-foot Beneteau is no ordinary sailboat, standing out even by luxury-vessel standards.<br /><br />McIntosh's yacht was the second hull of its class built and the only one owned, so far, in North America. Only 50 of the 57-foot class have been produced by Beneteau, and Laughlin said there is a one-year waiting period for a new one.<br /><br />The Beneteau 57 was built in France, but Beneteau USA has a facility in Marion that builds boats up to 46 feet.<br /><br />As soon as the boat arrived in Charleston, writers from national and international sailing magazines began showing up, clamoring for a chance to take a cruise. Articles and reviews about the boat extolled the virtues of its sleek hull and the comforts of its four mahogany staterooms, all luxuriously outfitted.<br /><br />"We did everything in the world we could do to publicize this boat," Laughlin said. "Everybody in the sailing world knew it was here."<br /><br />McIntosh was the second owner of the boat. He said his old 47-footer was a fine boat but lacked storage capacity for longer cruises he and his wife enjoy. He said the 57-foot Beneteau had the looks, style and room he always wanted.<br /><br />"It just had the combination of everything we were looking for," McIntosh said. "And it was a good value. We got it cheaper than if we had bought it new."<br /><br />McIntosh became the official owner of the boat Dec. 31. He and a sailing buddy spent a couple of days the weekend after New Year's cruising the waters off Charleston. It was the last time McIntosh set foot on his new boat. Laughlin called McIntosh the morning of Jan. 8 and told him the boat apparently had been stolen the previous night.<br /><br />"I naturally asked him if he was kidding," McIntosh said. "After a few minutes of talking to him, I realized he was serious."<br /><br />Charleston police investigating the theft found they had little to go on. A man sleeping on a sailboat moored next to McIntosh's boat the night it was stolen said he heard a sound that could have been bow thrusters starting at about 10:45 p.m. But no one saw anything out of the ordinary or any suspicious people at the marina. No one heard the engine being started.<br /><br />The sky that night was clear, and there was a full moon. Because the sailboat is outfitted with state-of-the-art electric winches, authorities said it's possible a person acting alone could have steered the vessel out of Charleston Harbor.<br /><br />The Coast Guard and Charleston Police Harbor Patrol were notified when the boat was discovered to be missing. A helicopter was dispatched to search the coastline all the way up to Myrtle Beach. But no sign of the boat, which was not equipped with a satellite-tracking system, was to be seen.<br /><br />"We would have found it if it had been kids on a lark," said Lt. J.E. Williams of the Charleston Police Department.<br /><br />Whether it was one person working alone, or a gang of thieves, authorities say whoever stole the yacht was familiar with it and knew it was capable of going to sea that night.<br /><br />"Somebody had this particular boat picked out," said Lt. Richard Vance, a Charleston narcotics detective called in to help with the investigation because of his sailing expertise.<br /><br />Authorities note that a yacht with a mast eight stories tall tends to stand out. "You can't hide the thing," the FBI's Derr said.<br /><br />Authorities suspect whoever took the boat steered it through the jetties, past the Coast Guard station and then straight out to sea.<br /><br />"The hull has a 7-foot draft, so that kind of limits where it can go," Derr said. "It wouldn't be able to be taken into any small canals around here and hidden."<br /><br />Authorities speculate the boat is heading south, maybe to the Bahamas or some island in the Caribbean. Europe is a possibility, though investigators believe that is unlikely this time of the year when the Atlantic Ocean is stormy and unpredictable. The boat is capable of cruising as far as 250 miles on a good day.<br /><br />"It was built to go across oceans," Williams said. "If it was sailed to the Caribbean, they should be getting there by now."<br /><br />Derr said his main question, aside from who stole the boat, is what the thief intends to do with a $750,000 sailboat that has been on magazine covers and is easily recognizable to knowledgeable sailors.<br /><br />"Where are they going to go, and once they get there, how are they going to keep it hidden?" Derr said.<br /><br />Authorities aren't publicly speculating about suspects, but Laughlin, the man who sold the yacht to McIntosh, said he has several theories about the theft. He suggested the thieves could have been terrorists needing to slip out of the country undetected or possibly just vagabonds looking for a free ride to some tropical location. Laughlin said he wouldn't be surprised if some wealthy person down in Venezuela or Brazil or another South American country hired professional thieves to take the boat.<br /><br />In any case, Laughlin said he firmly believes the thief or thieves are sailing for somewhere in the southern hemisphere where the 57-foot Beneteau could go unnoticed.<br /><br />"Hell, you can hide an aircraft carrier in the ocean," he said. "And that boat is capable of going around the world."<br /><br />McIntosh said Wednesday that he and his wife are trying to be philosophical about their boat's disappearance. "We look at it as being just a material thing," McIntosh said. "It's just a giant thing that we can live without if we have to."<br /><br />McIntosh's insurance company is offering a $10,000 reward for information that can help authorities locate the sailboat. Anyone with information is asked to call Derr at 722-0135 or Crime Stoppers at 554-1111.
<br />"This past weekend, when I realized I wasn't able to go sailing, that's when I got a little angry," said the Atlanta physician, an experienced seaman who has sailed much of the world.<br /><br />BENETEAU USA<br />This 57-foot, $750,000 luxury sailboat is identical to the boat that disappeared Jan. 7 from Charleston's City Marina.<br />McIntosh said at first he thought someone made a mistake or was playing a joke when he received a phone call a week ago informing him that his rare $750,000 Beneteau yacht had gone missing in the middle of the night from a slip at Charleston's City Marina on Lockwood Avenue.<br /><br />"This is one of those things that is just so bizarre that when the full story is finally unearthed, I'm sure it will be quite interesting," McIntosh said. "Right now I'm still adjusting to the amazement of it all. Incredulous has been my overwhelming reaction so far."<br /><br />Investigators say they also are amazed by the boat's disappearance and admit to being stumped about its whereabouts.<br /><br />"I don't remember any boat being stolen out of the harbors here, especially one of this size," said FBI Special Agent Robert Derr, who has worked in Charleston for 16 years. "I've never even heard of an 18-foot boat being stolen around here. And you certainly don't get too many $750,000 boats being stolen."<br /><br />Derr and Charleston police investigating the boat's disappearance have few clues. The only thing they say they are absolutely certain of is that the yacht, with a 75-foot mast and a weight of more than 47,000 pounds, didn't simply float off by itself.<br /><br />"It had to be somebody who knew what they were doing," Derr said. "It had to be somebody who knew the boat was seaworthy, and it had to be someone who knew how to operate it and navigate it."<br /><br />The saga of the missing yacht, so new it hadn't even been named yet, began when it was shipped from the Beneteau factory in France to a shipyard in Annapolis, Md., in May. That's where Chuck Laughlin, owner of St. Barts Yachts, went to take possession of the boat and sail it to his Beneteau dealership in Charleston. Laughlin had lined up a buyer for the boat, a man from North Carolina. But not long after, citing health reasons, the original buyer had Laughlin put the boat back on the market.<br /><br />Laughlin said inquiries soon poured in from all over the world. The 57-foot Beneteau is no ordinary sailboat, standing out even by luxury-vessel standards.<br /><br />McIntosh's yacht was the second hull of its class built and the only one owned, so far, in North America. Only 50 of the 57-foot class have been produced by Beneteau, and Laughlin said there is a one-year waiting period for a new one.<br /><br />The Beneteau 57 was built in France, but Beneteau USA has a facility in Marion that builds boats up to 46 feet.<br /><br />As soon as the boat arrived in Charleston, writers from national and international sailing magazines began showing up, clamoring for a chance to take a cruise. Articles and reviews about the boat extolled the virtues of its sleek hull and the comforts of its four mahogany staterooms, all luxuriously outfitted.<br /><br />"We did everything in the world we could do to publicize this boat," Laughlin said. "Everybody in the sailing world knew it was here."<br /><br />McIntosh was the second owner of the boat. He said his old 47-footer was a fine boat but lacked storage capacity for longer cruises he and his wife enjoy. He said the 57-foot Beneteau had the looks, style and room he always wanted.<br /><br />"It just had the combination of everything we were looking for," McIntosh said. "And it was a good value. We got it cheaper than if we had bought it new."<br /><br />McIntosh became the official owner of the boat Dec. 31. He and a sailing buddy spent a couple of days the weekend after New Year's cruising the waters off Charleston. It was the last time McIntosh set foot on his new boat. Laughlin called McIntosh the morning of Jan. 8 and told him the boat apparently had been stolen the previous night.<br /><br />"I naturally asked him if he was kidding," McIntosh said. "After a few minutes of talking to him, I realized he was serious."<br /><br />Charleston police investigating the theft found they had little to go on. A man sleeping on a sailboat moored next to McIntosh's boat the night it was stolen said he heard a sound that could have been bow thrusters starting at about 10:45 p.m. But no one saw anything out of the ordinary or any suspicious people at the marina. No one heard the engine being started.<br /><br />The sky that night was clear, and there was a full moon. Because the sailboat is outfitted with state-of-the-art electric winches, authorities said it's possible a person acting alone could have steered the vessel out of Charleston Harbor.<br /><br />The Coast Guard and Charleston Police Harbor Patrol were notified when the boat was discovered to be missing. A helicopter was dispatched to search the coastline all the way up to Myrtle Beach. But no sign of the boat, which was not equipped with a satellite-tracking system, was to be seen.<br /><br />"We would have found it if it had been kids on a lark," said Lt. J.E. Williams of the Charleston Police Department.<br /><br />Whether it was one person working alone, or a gang of thieves, authorities say whoever stole the yacht was familiar with it and knew it was capable of going to sea that night.<br /><br />"Somebody had this particular boat picked out," said Lt. Richard Vance, a Charleston narcotics detective called in to help with the investigation because of his sailing expertise.<br /><br />Authorities note that a yacht with a mast eight stories tall tends to stand out. "You can't hide the thing," the FBI's Derr said.<br /><br />Authorities suspect whoever took the boat steered it through the jetties, past the Coast Guard station and then straight out to sea.<br /><br />"The hull has a 7-foot draft, so that kind of limits where it can go," Derr said. "It wouldn't be able to be taken into any small canals around here and hidden."<br /><br />Authorities speculate the boat is heading south, maybe to the Bahamas or some island in the Caribbean. Europe is a possibility, though investigators believe that is unlikely this time of the year when the Atlantic Ocean is stormy and unpredictable. The boat is capable of cruising as far as 250 miles on a good day.<br /><br />"It was built to go across oceans," Williams said. "If it was sailed to the Caribbean, they should be getting there by now."<br /><br />Derr said his main question, aside from who stole the boat, is what the thief intends to do with a $750,000 sailboat that has been on magazine covers and is easily recognizable to knowledgeable sailors.<br /><br />"Where are they going to go, and once they get there, how are they going to keep it hidden?" Derr said.<br /><br />Authorities aren't publicly speculating about suspects, but Laughlin, the man who sold the yacht to McIntosh, said he has several theories about the theft. He suggested the thieves could have been terrorists needing to slip out of the country undetected or possibly just vagabonds looking for a free ride to some tropical location. Laughlin said he wouldn't be surprised if some wealthy person down in Venezuela or Brazil or another South American country hired professional thieves to take the boat.<br /><br />In any case, Laughlin said he firmly believes the thief or thieves are sailing for somewhere in the southern hemisphere where the 57-foot Beneteau could go unnoticed.<br /><br />"Hell, you can hide an aircraft carrier in the ocean," he said. "And that boat is capable of going around the world."<br /><br />McIntosh said Wednesday that he and his wife are trying to be philosophical about their boat's disappearance. "We look at it as being just a material thing," McIntosh said. "It's just a giant thing that we can live without if we have to."<br /><br />McIntosh's insurance company is offering a $10,000 reward for information that can help authorities locate the sailboat. Anyone with information is asked to call Derr at 722-0135 or Crime Stoppers at 554-1111.