ROWING club bosses have had their vital £16,000 safety boat stolen just days before it is needed for an annual regatta.

Rowhedge Coastal Rowing Club were able to pay for the motorised vessel last year are successfully applying for grant funding.

But it was taken from a storage site in Fingringhoe on Tuesday and driven away.

The kit is needed for the annual Rowhedge Regatta next weekend where the club hosts races.

Chairman of the club Nina Crouchman appealed for anyone with information to get in touch with the police.

She said: “It is kept on farmland in a secluded little space.

“The owner came home to find the chains had been cut on the gate, the fence had been damaged and the locks which had been on the boat had been removed.

“Then obviously the boat had been taken. That is all we really know.

“Somebody contacted us to say they though their son had spotted it on Straight Road, Colchester, later that day but he did not know which car was towing it.

“Aside from that it just seems to have disappeared.

“If anybody has seen it or has any knowledge of where it is we would be grateful if they could contact us or the police.”

The theft is a double blow for the club who need it for next week’s regatta and a scheduled visit from Scouts who will be learning about using gigs.

Nina added: “For the regatta we have to provide a safety boat.

“The next couple of weeks would have been its busiest period of the year.

“But we will be able to continue - a couple of people have said they would help us out.

“We have had support from Wivenhoe Sailing Club and a friend I have at Burnham Rowing Club.

“Thankfully, if we need a boat there is a way round it.

“But we all worked really hard to be able to get the boat and it was such an asset for us and a nice thing to have.”

After contacting their insurance company, the boat will be able to be replaced in the coming weeks.

“It is the first insurance claim we have ever needed to make in six years,” said Nina.

“I spent a whole day on the phone trying to sort everything out but thankfully we are fully covered.”

Anyone with information should contact Essex Police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.