• Submitted by: manso
• United States
• Politics and Government
• 08 / 12 / 2010

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Democratic Senate hopeful Jeff Greene’s campaign released new documents today to bolster Greene’s contention that his 2007 visit to Cuba wasn’t an embargo-defying party layover but an unscheduled stop to fix mechanical problems.

The documents — an attorney’s letter, the written recollections of the chief engineer of the 145-foot Summerwind and a repair bill from the Bahamas — probably won’t make the Cuba controversy go away. There’s still the matter of Greene’s conflicting initial accounts of why he visited the communist island.

But the new documents do provide some interesting glimpses into yachting life.

The yacht’s chief engineer, Andy Valero, says in his letter he was vacationing in the Philippines when he was called by Greene “to return to the boat immediately to help with repairs.”

He says he flew to Havana, but there were not adequate materials to fix the craft so he made temporary repairs to get the boat to the Bahamas, where Greene incurred $3,126 for repairs and dockage. The biggest item was $1,179.25 for four steel hydraulic lines.

A deckhand told The St. Petersburg Times that when the Summerwind arrived in Cuba there was “vomit caked all over the sides from all the partying going on.”

Valero offers what may be an alternative vomit theory, saying there had been rough seas and that when he arrived in Havana, “all the guests were very sick” but “there were no parties on the vessel.”

By George Bennett | August 10th, 2010

Source: www.postonpolitics.com/