Ocean Jailed for Four Years

by Sail-World Cruising on 23 Jan 2008 HIS affinity with the sea prompted him to change his name to Ocean, but the former David Robin Douglas is just a maritime menace, according to the judge who jailed him for four years yesterday for stealing a yacht from Adelaide and trying to sail it to Western Australia. He had been stopped and arrested by authorities mid-ocean.

In June 2006, he conned the Adelaide owner of the luxury yacht Minuet into allowing him to sail it from its berth to nearby Port Adelaide for repairs to the hull.

He had told the yacht's owner, Peter Littledike, that he could repair its deck for a substantially cheaper sum than he had been quoted.

Mr Littledike met Ocean, who he knew as Dave Golden, in 2006 at the Sunset Cove Marina near Second Valley.

Ocean arranged to sail 9.6m yacht Minuet to Garden Island to be put on a slipway for the repairs. But after setting out from Holdfast Shores Marina on June 5, 2006, Ocean never arrived at Garden Island.

The yacht was discovered by police three days later, sailing north-west towards Coffin Bay, near Port Lincoln.

The 43-year-old who now goes under the solitary name of Ocean, had painted over the yacht's name, and disguised himself, never intending to return.

Judge Wilson said Ocean had changed his name by deed poll some time ago and had previously been known as Dave Golden and David Douglas.

The court was told that when police caught up with Ocean, he told them 'I'm a fraudster'.

Ocean also claimed that when he set sail he had set the yacht's autohelm after drinking a considerable amount of alcohol on hearing a daughter had committed suicide.

However, investigations revealed the daughter was alive and Judge Wilson said Ocean's claim was an 'unsuccessful attempt to justify your actions'.

Last year he was convicted on a charge of theft by a jury in the South Australian District Court after admitting to being a fraudster.

Facing a maximum jail term of 10 years, Ocean was imprisoned for four years with a non-parole-period of three years.

Judge Wilson said he could see no reason to suspend the jail terms. Imposing sentence today he described Ocean as ``something of a maritime menace'.

After leaving Adelaide, Ocean crossed both Gulf St Vincent and Spencer Gulf and was in full sail off the west coast of South Australia near Coffin Bay when first spotted by police.

After three days at sea, he was, quite clearly, heading towards Western Australia, said the judge.

``You had previously, with the owner's knowledge and consent, supplied and fitted some improvements and done some work on his yacht, which made it, if I can be pardoned for the pun, fit for ocean sailing,' Judge Wilson told Ocean.

``In a number of respects you prepared the yacht for an extended voyage.

But Judge Wilson said Ocean had failed to take into account the efforts police and maritime authorities would make to track him down, even before he left South Australian waters.

He said Ocean had a history of dishonesty offences dating back 20 years in Victoria, NSW and Queensland.