More Darling Strangeness

The weird tale of the theft of John Fruth’s Sausalito-based Oyster 82 Darling and her subsequent grounding at Pacifica’s Linda Mar Beach just keeps getting weirder. After we wrote our update on Wednesday, it was announced that two of the three suspects aboard had been released. Prosecutors dropped all charges against Dario Mira and Lisa Modawell, a couple from Aptos, after it was determined they had no idea the boat was stolen. They say Leslie Gardner of Gilette, Wyoming claimed he’d received a huge inheritance that included the boat. After partying on the boat all day and well into the night, Gardner wanted to sail the boat to Half Moon Bay, said Mira after his release. We all know the outcome of that little trip.

Be sure to check out the April issue of Latitude 38, which will include a letter from a fellow who picked up a scruffy hitchhiker on Monday with an amazing tale to share. "He had been partying hard on a boat that he had been hired to crew on by a very unpleasant character named Les, who claimed to have recently inherited $270 million, including the boat," writes Victor Vesey of the South Beach-based Winga 862 Swedish Promise. "He said it was a 98-ft sailboat with six bedrooms and four-and-a-half bathrooms, and it was stocked with ‘more liquor than a liquor store’. Eventually things became stressful on board, and my passenger was yelled at for having drank the last of the beer, which he explained was really unfair since he hadn’t been having any of the speed."

Read more on April 1.