I just received an email from John McKnight in Miami. Many of you may have also received his email, but I'm posting it here in the event someone not on his mailing list may be able to assist.

Does anyone know Tommy Gonzalez and where he might be?

I got a call from a private investigator this evening. She is trying to locate Tommy Gonzalez. It seems he went sailing 10 days ago with his girl friend Sherrie Folkerson. Sherrie's parents have not heard form Sherrie for over 5 days. They are very concerned considering the hurricanes we have been having. They contacted the investigator to see if she could help locate their daughter. The Coast Guard cannot help much until they get the name of the boat.

Tommy Gonzalez is a Miami resident and a Maxi-cat sailor. He has or does work with Teamadventure. He actually has been getting the CABB emails that I send out. He sailed with Randy Smyth in the 2002 Tradewinds Regatta.

If anyone knows Tommy or his whereabouts, please contact me or the investigator. I will be out of town after tomorrow (Tuesday) so contact Brooke directly if you have any information.

The investigator's name is Brooke Karrington. She can be reached at 801 483-1122 or Cell 801 750-1122 or email Brooke@Karringtoninv.com

Thanks,
John McKnight
305 251-7600

Thanks for posting this -- I was just about to do so. Unfortunately, information is sketchy. At this point we do not know what kind of boat they went sailing on, or where they were sailing out of, or where they were going, or anything.

Here is the description of his job as a member of Team Adventure, from the website, www.teamadventure.org

Boat Captain – Tommy takes meticulous care of the big cat. He has thousands of miles of ocean racing and sailing experience, a 1600 ton license and a stint as a Hollywood stunt man for Pierce Brosnan in the Thomas Crown Affair.

If I hear any more specific information, I will let you know. Let's hope and pray that they are just having a nice vacation in the Bahamas.

This is a classic example of why we all need to give a "float plan" to somebody whether we plan to be out for a day or a week.

Latest information is that perhaps they did not plan to be back until next week, but also that perhaps their radio and other communications equipment is not working well so they are not able to "call home."

Considering the hurricanes that have come through, that would not be comforting to me if I were a parent.

It is a discomfiting reminder of all the things that Rick and I have been through in our travels on the water and the fact that none of our relatives really knew where we were or what kind of boat we were on or where we were going from and to. Really irresponsible, I guess. But we would probably do the same things again today, even though it is very inconsiderate to the people who care about you when you come up missing.

And I should add that it could also be life-threatening.

For those of you that don't know, Tommy and Sherrie are ok.

"Apparently they encountered some bad weather which delayed them, but all is well. I have been trying to get the word out, so please pass the good news along."