SARASOTA, FL — A 43-year-old man hoping to give his two children a memorable Father’s Day fishing trip was arrested Sunday after allegedly stealing a 21-foot bowrider from a marina on Sarasota Bay, motoring approximately 400 yards into open water, and immediately running it aground on a sandbar he later described as “not on any map I was given.” He was not given a map.

Gary Lynn Boudreau allegedly took the unsecured vessel from a slip at Marina Jack at approximately 8 a.m., loading his 9-year-old and 11-year-old aboard along with a cooler, three fishing rods, and what investigators catalogued as “an alarming quantity of Capri Sun.” Boudreau, who does not own a boat and has never operated one, reportedly told his children the boat “belonged to a friend,” the friend being nobody.

Dead in the Water

The boat made it roughly the length of a football field before lodging firmly on a sandbar in full view of the marina. Boudreau spent approximately 25 minutes attempting to free the vessel by, according to witnesses, “rocking back and forth and yelling at it.” A passing harbor patrol officer approached to offer assistance and quickly determined Boudreau had no registration, no boating license, and no idea where the key had even come from.

“He told me his kids deserved a real Father’s Day. I respect that. But you cannot steal a boat to provide it. Also you ran it aground in the calmest water in the entire bay. There is one sandbar here and you found it.” — Officer Renata Solis, Sarasota Marine Patrol

The children were unharmed and reportedly “having a great time” until the handcuffs appeared. Boudreau was booked into the Sarasota County Jail on charges of grand theft and operating a vessel without a license. His JailReport.lol booking is filed under Florida Man and Father’s Day. Bond was set at $5,000. The boat was undamaged. The Capri Suns were confiscated and, per the report, “distributed to the children.”