DeBary Mayor Clint Johnson to assemble raft, float from Cuba to U.S.

DeBary Mayor Clint Johnson to assemble raft, float from Cuba to U.S.
Outspoken city leader has backing of suntan lotion magnate
By Austin Fuller
austin.fuller@news-jrnl.com
Published: Monday, March 7, 2016 at 5:15 p.m.
Last Modified: Monday, March 7, 2016 at 10:56 p.m.

DEBARY — Mayor Clint Johnson is planning a trip to Cuba, but his return
journey — on an unpowered, makeshift raft across the Florida Straits —
is an undertaking that even the mayor acknowledges has its dangers.

Johnson plans to visit the Caribbean island in mid-April, making the
risky journey back to experience the adventure and to better understand
what Cuban refugees go through.

"I love going on adventures, I love living outside the box and really
pushing my boundaries and doing stuff that isn't normally done," he said.

The mayor posted on his website that he will be making the raft trip in
order to "share the experience and weigh the pros/cons of a more open
relationship with our neighbor 90 miles south."

In 2014 the Obama administration took steps to normalize relations
between the U.S. and Cuba, reopening an embassy in Havana for the first
time in more than 50 years. The president and first lady plan to travel
to Cuba later this month.

Johnson plans to fly to Havana with his wife, bringing with him bolts
and oar locks and obtaining the other pieces for his raft in Cuba. He
plans to depart alone by water west of the city as soon as he gets good
weather. He hopes to land in Key West.

He said he will probably not have another boat accompany him on his journey.

"I want the trip back to be as authentic as possible," he said. "If I've
got a big boat sitting right there with granola bars on it or where I
can just holler and be like 'Hey, I'm a little tired, I'll get on the
boat,' to me that ruins the whole thing. So, if I did have a chase boat
it would definitely be far out of sight."

He expects if everything goes perfectly, including the weather, the
journey back could take around two days.

"If it didn't go perfect, I'm thinking it could be seven, eight days. I
could get really sick. I could run into a storm or two," he said. "Then,
I would just be hoping that I get close enough to the coast as the
(Gulf) stream comes back around and I'm hoping I can break out of the
(Gulf) stream."

He will take with him a personal locator beacon as well as a device that
will send his location to his website and allow him to send out updates.

The mayor plans to soon test out a raft, made of large barrels, on Lake
Monroe. After that, he will take it out overnight on the ocean from the
New Smyrna Beach and Ponce Inlet area, and then he will do a final test
on Lake Okeechobee.

According to the U.S. Department of State's website, U.S. citizens need
licenses to make transactions related to Cuba travel, which can be
granted for a number of reasons.

Johnson said he qualified for a license under the professional research
or journalism reasons, as he will be blogging about the trip.

The 30-year-old mayor introduces himself on his Facebook page as
"entrepreneur, adventurer, contrarian thinker," and has the backing of
one of Volusia County's best known self-made businessmen. Ron Rice, the
founder and former owner of the suntan lotion brand Hawaiian Tropic and
his new sun care business, Havana Sun, is sponsoring the mayor's trip.

Rice of Ormond Beach, who has friends in Cuba, said details on the
sponsorship are still being worked out, but he could help with
logistics. He said Johnson is planning on assembling the raft in Cuba,
and that his friends in Cuba could give Johnson parts for the raft.

"He's going to do something very unique," Rice said.

He said the trip is "very risky" noting the potential of storms, but he
believes Johnson can pull it off.

"I wouldn't sponsor him if I didn't think he could do it," Rice said.

Kenny Patterson, owner of DeBary's American Auto Salvage & Recycling,
said he is letting Johnson use 55-gallon drums to make a flotation system.

Despite helping the mayor, Patterson was not enthused about the trip.

"It just seems like a dare devilish thing to me," he said.

A logo for "DeLorme inReach Explorer" is on Johnson's website under a
list of sponsors, but a company official said in an email DeLorme is
only offering Johnson a 25 percent discount on a satellite communication
and tracking device called an inReach Explorer that the company makes.

"Other than the small discount, we are in no way sponsoring or
supporting his event," wrote Daniel McFetridge, marketing and PR content
specialist for DeLorme.

The U.S. Department of State's website warns that Cuban waters "are
extremely dangerous and difficult to navigate, even for experienced
mariners.

"The potential for running aground is very high," the website states.
"Search-and-rescue capability in Cuba is limited and running aground
will often lead to the complete destruction and loss of the vessel."

Luis Martinez-Fernandez, a professor of history at the University of
Central Florida and the author of "Revolutionary Cuba: A History," said
the journey is harrowing for Cubans.

"In the case of Cubans, they're risking their lives," he said.

Martinez-Fernandez said under the Cuban Adjustment Act, since 1966
Cubans fleeing the island were welcomed as refugees by the United States
government.

But under President Bill Clinton in the 1990s, the wet foot, dry foot
policy was implemented and any Cubans who were intercepted and had not
physically reached the United States would not be allowed in,
Martinez-Fernandez explained.

He added that with recent repairs in relationships between Cuba and the
United States it is very likely that the Cuban Adjustment Act will be
discarded in the near future.

Councilman Rick Dwyer, who often spars with Johnson on the council, said
his concern about floating back from Cuba on a raft would be safety.

"I wish him calm seas and a pleasant journey," Dwyer said.

Councilman Mike Brady said it is not something he would do, but if the
mayor wants to undergo the personal voyage, "more power to him."

"It's not in my blood to do something like that," Brady said.

This wouldn't be Johnson's first adventure since taking office. In
October, Johnson rode a bicycle across the state to raise awareness for
trails and the city.

That trip became controversial after Johnson did not pay the bill for
his bicycle and supplies to a DeLand shop until December, only after the
business sent a scathing email to the city over the issue.

The mayor said this time around he is making it clearer that this is a
personal adventure: "I think that it got confused last time," he said.

Source: DeBary Mayor Clint Johnson to assemble raft, float from Cuba to
U.S. | News-JournalOnline.com -
http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20160307/NEWS/160309572?Title=DeBary-Mayor-Clint-Johnson-to-assemble-raft-float-from-Cuba-to-U-S-