ROCKPORT — Five days after its disappearance, the Juno — the 32-foot-long sailboat worth $20,000 to $25,000 apparently stolen last Thursday from the end of T-Wharf near the Sandy Bay Yacht Club — is still missing.

And the outlook for recovering it is "bleak," according to Rockport Harbormasters Rosemary Lesch and Scott Story.

"The boat is hours away by now," Lesch speculated yesterday. "We're continuing to pass the word along and get our fellow harbormasters to keep their eyes open, but it's not in this area anymore unless it's in a warehouse being cut up, which is a possibility."

The boat's owner, James Tew of 23 Atlantic Ave., said he found the Juno missing from its usual mooring early Thursday and immediately reported it stolen to Lesch and Story, to the Coast Guard and to local police.

"It's becoming pretty clear to me that this was not a random thing," Tew said. "This isn't a couple of kids out for a joy ride; it was planned.

"The fact that the boat has not been spotted," he said, "tells me that it's either in a place that's hard to see or it's been taken out of the water."

Tew said that the engine and new steering gear would be valuable for someone if they were able to remove the items and sell them, but it would take a "professional job" to make that happen.

"If it's out of the water, they'll have access to a trailer to haul it out of the water, and a place to store it where they can take the parts they want," Tew said.

The white 1968 sailboat was taken at about 2 a.m. Thursday, according to Story, and it must be running on the motor, Tew said, because there were no sails on board at the time.

"They would have had to stop to fuel up on diesel at some point if they are still out on the ocean," Tew said, but the only potential sighting of the boat was at 5:20 Thursday morning by a tugboat that reported possibly seeing it near Thatcher Island.

"If the report of a sailboat off Thacher Island on Thursday morning turns out to be a sighting of my boat, then it tells me that when they left Rockport Harbor they turned for Boston and not New Hampshire," Tew said. "I think there would be more potential sightings going toward Boston instead of New Hampshire because there are more people in that direction, but who knows. They could've turned around and gone the other way.

"It's still a mystery to me," he said.

Lesch and Story said the tough economic times could be playing a role in the suspected theft, the first such crime in more than 20 years.

"It's also a trend in the economy that people are trying to look for ways to make cash, and this could be one of them," Lesch said. "Our advice is just to keep good security on your boats and keep an eye out for things."

Lesch and Story have sent alerts to all harbormasters in the state to be on the lookout for the boat, along with the New Hampshire Marine Patrol.

"The Coast Guard and harbormasters have done as much as they can, and the local police have shown interest," Tew said.

A Zodiac and a 10-foot inflatable raft were also reported missing from the harbor the same day, and Lesch and Story said they think the people who stole the Juno likely took the Zodiac and raft on their way out as well.

Tew said he has been trying to sell the Juno for some time, with a broker and on the manufacturer's Internet site. Lesch and Story said it is possible the theft is tied to those Internet connections.

Lesch and Story said the longer a boat goes without being found, the further away it is likely to be.

"Once a boat gets out on the ocean, it's a needle in a haystack," Tew said.

Cameron Kittle can be reached at gt_reporter@gloucestertimes.com.