Pinnacle Dragons coach Pearl Butcher stumped by theft at Orange's Lake Canobolas

Pinnacle Dragons' coach Pearl Butcher can't understand why, or how for that matter, the poles were removed considering they were installed by a mechanical pole driver around six years ago for the pontoon's installation at Lake Canobolas.

She's even more stumped by the disappearance of temporary star pegs that were installed to keep the pontoon anchored after the initial theft.

The missing poles means Pinnacle Dragons' pontoon has been adrift in the Lake on two occasions during January, which Mrs Butcher said is not only inconvenient for its many users, it's also a safety issue.

"It creates a lot of problems for us," she said this week.

"During January there are so many people down at the beach so it's not safe to be backing in 12-metre [dragon] boats into the water. This is why we put the pontoon in up the other end [of the Lake] to get away from them, to make it safer for everyone."

She said the pontoon, which was again adrift this week, was available for everyone to use with kayakers frequently launching from it which freed the beach area for families and she can't understand the theft, which she said would have been hard work.

"They couldn't have done it when people were around, they must have got in there at night and it would not have been easy.

"They would have to have been up to their waist in water to get those post."

Mrs Butcher said the pontoon and its installation was valued at around $9000 to install, costs alleviated by community support. She said the club had replacement poles which would again be installed mechanically while it has also asked council engineers for ideas on securing them further.

"Getting it back into place is costing a couple of hundred dollars at least, for the posts, and now we've got to find someone with a mechanical post driver to drive them in. Don't know how much that will be," Mrs Butcher said.

She said police were informed of the initial theft.

"We're very happy, and it's always been the intention, that the pontoon was for the use of the public," she said.

"There's a defibrillator out there donated to Dragons Abreast Orange, that's for everybody's use as well and it's the same with that pontoon. And we've never had a problem until recently."

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