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Lucayan Lady Team Wants Race In Memory Of Smith

February 17, 2007 at 3:29 am ·

While some remember Anna Nicole Smith as an individual who led an odd life, the A-class Lucayan Lady’ team regarded the late American pop culture figure as a kind-hearted person who shared a love for boats and sailing.

Several of the Lucayan Lady’s key sailors’, sloop owner “King” Eric Gibson, main sheet man Stephano Kemp, jib man Devon “China” Adderley and pry man Andrew Leon “Rasta” Knowles, met Smith at the All For One Regatta, January 27.

The Bahama Journal was represented on a yacht where enthusiasts watched the sailing event on that occasion. Also on the boat were King Eric, Smith, her baby Dannielynn Hope Smith, Howard Stern and a female friend from London.

Speaking with The Bahama Journal on Tuesday night, Gibson, who was on the trip with Smith and others when she died in Florida, said Smith was a long-time family friend who accepted the invitation of he and companion’s Brigette Neven to attend the sailing event at Montague Bay.

“I usually would invite her out to sailing events so that she could catch some fresh air. I just don’t think that it was healthy for her to stay cooped up inside that house. Given what she had gone through in the past couple of months I know she would have bad thoughts and become depressed.

“So she got up around 5 a.m. with us that morning and we headed out. She loved watching the sloops sail and she was cheering on the team, dressed in her Lucayan Lady shirt,” said Gibson.

The crew’s general consensus of Smith was that she was just another team member. Members of the team have informed the Journal that they want to sail a race in her memory at the “Sailing Barber” Eleazor Johnson’s 20th “Catch Me If You Can”, St. Valentine’s Day Regatta scheduled for this weekend in Montague Bay

“I know that some of the sailors want to sail a race in her memory. But it can’t be this weekend because this is Barber’s regatta and it would not be appropriate. However we can do that at another regatta,” said Gibson.

Gibson added that Smith was a sailing enthusiast and expressed a desire to sponsor a major regatta, as she wanted to contribute to The Bahamas in some way.

Pry man Knowles has been sailing with Gibson for over four years and gave his impression of Smith.

“When I went on the boat she was playing with her baby and I asked her the baby’s name. Then she introduced herself and we talked for a short while. She was a very nice person and seemed to enjoy herself sailing with the women on the upper deck. Anna was cheering on the team but I don’t think she knew who was leading at the time. But then she got sea sick and went to lie down in the cabin with Howard and the baby,” said Knowles.

When asked about how he thinks the local and international media is portraying her Knowles said, “When you are rich and famous people are going to be jealous and say hateful things even when they don’t know you. She had her faults like of us but she was only human. She seemed comfortable around us and not stuck up at all. Anna supported the team and I would like to sail in her memory.”

Meanwhile jib man Adderley noted, “It was big surprise to hear of her passing because I had just met her a week before. At the regatta she was cheering the team on and seemed very vibrant. She was a part of the team and I don’t have any problem sailing in her memory.”

Adderley’s little brother Denoy, a novice sailor and SC McPherson ninth-grader kept Smith’s company part of the time on the yacht while Devon was sailing and said, “She was a very nice person and she let me play with the baby.”

According to Neven, (who told US based news media MSNBC that she found the celebrity unresponsive in her Hard Rock Hotel room on February , Smith seemed relaxed and enjoyed her sloop-sailing experience at the All For One Regatta.

Neven says she considered Smith her adoptive daughter.

By Dahalia Smith
The Bahama Journal

http://news.bahamianyellowpages.com/2007/02/17/lucayan-lady-team-wants-race-in-memory-of-smith/