A sea kayak used in the only European paddle expedition around Siberia has been stolen from a Tayside beach.
Police are hunting thieves who took the large 22ft vessel from Westhaven Beach near Carnoustie, in what is thought to be a premeditated theft.
The specially-constructed £2,000 kayak is one of only two in the UK and was used by Mike Bartle, 53, on a pioneering mission around the north of Siberia, and another epic paddle off Greenland.
Mike and wife Gillian, 41, launched an appeal for information yesterday in the hope somebody may have seen the unusual theft in progress sometime between Friday evening and Sunday morning.
They said it would have taken two strong people to lift the Aleut Double Sea Kayak, which is green with yellow piping.
Carnoustie Coastguard volunteer Mike used it for numerous expeditions in the late 1980s and mid 90s and the custom-built boat holds sentimental value for him.
“We were the first people from Europe to get permission to travel round the north of Siberia,” he said.
“But the ice caps moved after two days of travelling; we were trapped for nine days and had to be airlifted out.
“There have been no other kayakers who have made the trip as far as we are aware. It is very difficult to get into that area because of the authorities’ lack of willingness to let people go up there.”
To get to their Siberian starting point Mike and his team travelled on a plane filled with black-market TVs and once in the wilderness saw polar bear tracks and a Cold War bunker.
A separate adventure saw him use his beloved kayak to navigate Cape Farewell in Greenland a notoriously dangerous route that has claimed the lives of Inuit people in the region.
Gillian wants the thieves brought to justice but said she would be happy with the return of the treasured vessel.
She said: “If somebody just put it back and it appeared the next morning that would be fine.”
The kayak was taken from an area near Long Row and had been left on a patch of grass near some beach huts.
It was at least 100 yards away from the road and the thieves would have needed to lift it by hand, possibly into or on to a waiting vehicle.