CIGAR-SMUGGLING SAILOR IS FUGITIVE

The 1994 Sarasota to Havana Yacht Race, brainchild of Florida sailor Bob
Winters, was the first sailboat race to Cuba since Fidel Castro's
dictatorship began in the late 1950's. due to protests and threats from the
vociferous Cuban-American community, police and U.S. Customs agents
attended both the skipper's meeting and the start of the event in which 84
boats participated without incident. The race was, at first, deemed a success.

Afterwards, race organizer Winters stayed in Cuba with his boat, (i)Endless
Starr(/i). His son, Bobby, hitched a ride home to the U.S. on another boat.

Meanwhile, in the states, winters left behind a mountain of bills, his wife
of 18 years, and a political nightmare for the board of directors of the
Sarasota Sailing Squadron, which leases land from the City of Sarasota. The
Squadron ousted Williams in absentia.

two years later, in the summer of 1996, Winters surfaced at a party in
Bradenton, Florida. Things were going well for him in Cuba, he told guests.
By the following fall, Winters, 61, had become a federal fugitive. His son,
Bobby, 19, is in jail in Lee County (FL). His bond set at $50,000, had not
been posted as of press time.

According to the federal indictment, Bobby sailed (i)Endless Starr(/i) to
Cuba on November 22, 1996, and brought back to Key West 240 boxes of Cuban
cigars. He was met by his father and they drove to Fort Meyers, where they
were stopped by U.S. Customs, where they seized the cigars while agents in
Key West impounded (i)Endless Starr(/i).

"It was good stuff," said Dave Warren, U.S. Customs resident agent in
charge of the Fort Meyers office "They even had presentation boxes, which
sell in Miami for $1000. It was our opinion that this was not the first
time they had done this."

Bob Winters, Warren said, was arrested on an outstanding state warrant and
later released. When the indictments came down on September 17, 1997, Bobby
Winters was arrested and jailed. His father has disappeared; U.S. Customs
and federal marshals are still looking for him.

There is an incentive to smuggle Cuban cigars. Premium brands like Cohibas
and Monte Cristos sell in the U.S. for about $25 each. In 1994, boxes were
about $75 in Cuba. Sell three and you've recovered your investment. At
about $525 a box, the rest is profit; 240 boxes could bring a gross profit
of $126,000. The federal charges the Winters are facing carry a sentence of
up to 20 years.