TMZ has a hoax and not a scoop

TMZ reported it had an aging black and white photo, old, cracked and faded, in its possession that some believed showed JFK relaxing on a yacht with four sun-loving women. Well that some didn't include the Smoking Gun which with a little hunting discovered the image is from a '60s Playboy pictorial. Oops!

Supposedly the photo was locked away for many years and was only discovered after the death of the collector. A good story but not true. It is not John F. Kennedy and TMZ has been punk'd.

Thank goodness that I didn't get all preachy about the picture. When I looked at it, I saw a man relaxing in the sun, with two women on a deck above and two others off to the side enjoying the water.

I thought all that this picture proved, if it should be shown to be legitimate, was that JFK was not prudish. Sun bathing and swimming sans suits was O.K on his yacht. (It would have been O.K. on my yacht, too, if I'd ever had the chance to give my approval.) Oh well, the hired male model in the picture is still a gentleman; No sideways, leering glances from this fellow.

Years ago I was editing some negatives at a newspaper where I worked when the daughter of a highly placed executive stopped in to to see what was happening in photo. It was an election night and she liked to wander about editorial keeping tabs on the unfolding stories.

As I worked, she asked me about my boat, a C&C 27. I mentioned that I liked to sail the North Channel and anchor in forgotten little coves. She said that she, too, liked dropping the hook in quiet little harbours. When boating in the Caribbean, she said, she and her friends liked to swim together in the altogether off the stern of the boat.

I never found out who "her friends" were. I was too prudish to ask. Maybe that is why no one swam nude off my stern; I was too much of a prude.

But, as I type this, I am beginning to recall lots of nude swimming stories. Yachts, quiet coves, and inviting waters seem to encourage nude recreation, even if I don't. And I can't think of anything salacious in a one of the stories.