Meet Dave Brennan, PRO for the AON 2023 Etchells World Championship
Dave Brennan has spent a large portion of his life on Biscayne Bay — sailing, fishing, scuba diving and just plain having fun.
When a young Dave Brennan relocated from Providence, Rhode Island to Miami, another world based on the beauty and bounty of Biscayne Bay opened up. He was a junior sailor out of Coral Reef Yacht Club moving from Optimists to Lasers. He also always had a runabout in which to explore what has been described as a lagoon with the characteristics of an estuary.
It is a body of water approximately 35 miles long and eight miles wide with a surface area of 221 square miles.
“Biscayne Bay is a part of my being. I know the waterfront here like the back of my hand,” Brennan said. “I’ve been scuba diving and skin diving every inch of this waterfront looking for lobsters since I was a little kid. I know all the secret places to go. If it’s blowing hard, I can take you diving in a spot where the water is gin clear.”
As a young man, Brennan began racing in the Lightning class then eventually got into the J/24 class. He got good enough to build a reputation as a sailor you wanted on your crew. Brennan did every Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC) regatta from 1969 to 1986. He helped legendary America’s Cup skipper Dennis Conner win the 1979 SORC aboard an IOR 50 named Williwaw.
Throughout that time of his life, Brennan rotated through a series of jobs that enabled him to spend considerable time on the water — sailmaker, spar shop manager, boat captain. Around the age of 30, Brennan realized it was time to get a job that truly paid the bills and he has been in the real estate business owning and managing property ever since.
A seminal moment in Brennan’s life came in the mid-1980s when he had a heart-to-heart talk with Bill Smoak, a mentor who he says “looked after this crazy Irishman.” Smoak was a renowned race officer for both Biscayne Boat Yacht Club and Coral Reef Yacht Club.
“Dave, you’ve taken advantage of sailing your whole life and now it’s time for you to give back,” Smoak told Brennan.
Brennan was drafted into race committee work and soon thereafter found himself serving as the “Field of Play” manager for the Miami Olympic Classes Regatta. Previously known as the Can-Am Series, the event was taken over by US Sailing for the purpose of developing sailors in the Olympic classes.
Brennan managed six circles on Biscayne Bay and spent six years making sure all the participating yacht clubs had what they needed to run good racing. Some needed money, some needed boats and some needed people, Brennan said.
“Basically, I had to solve all sorts of problems,” he said.
Charley Cook recognized Brennan as an up-and-coming talent in the race management world and recruited him to work the 1996 Olympics. Brennan wound up running the Finn class circle for the Olympic regatta that was held out of Savannah.
Cook would later serve as Principal Race Officer for the sailing competitions at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and the 2012 Olympics in London.
Brennan burnished his reputation as a top-notch International Race Officer beginning in 1988 when the Etchells class established a winter series in Miami. Brennan served as the Principal Race Officer for what is now known as the Etchells Biscayne Bay Winter Series from 1999 through 2017.
Interestingly, Brennan’s involvement with the Etchells class dates back to 1981 when he worked the world championships held out of Eastern Yacht Club in Marblehead, Mass. Cook was the PRO for that regatta and brought Brennan aboard the management team.
Brennan branched out to grand prix big boat racing by chance. He was asked to run a mark boat at Key West Race Week and did so just to soak up the experience of spending a week in the Conch Republic.
However, by the end of the week event director Peter Craig had discovered Brennan’s background and experience working the Olympics and running the highly successful Etchells Winter Series.
Craig appointed Brennan as PRO of Division 2, which variously featured the Melges 24, Mumm 30, Melges 32 and J/70 classes over the years. “We had 50 percent of the total boats at Key West Race Week on our circle,” recalled Brennan, who worked that regatta for 17 years.
Brennan would bring his entire team from Biscayne Bay Yacht Club along with boats and other equipment to Key West via a caravan across the ocean. Craig dubbed Brennan and his loyal volunteers the “Miami Mafia.”
Two members of Brennan’s race management team that were not from Miami were Dick and Barbara Neville. Dick served as Brennan’s Deputy Race Officer for a decade down in Key West, while Barbara was a scorer.
Brennan and his wife Kendra have become extremely close with the Nevilles over the years while working such events as Antigua Race Week, the Rolex Cup in St. Thomas and the BVI Spring Regatta.
“We would go from regatta to regatta with what we called the traveling road show,” Brennan said.
Brennan has run a number of stand-alone major events, including the 2002 Melges 24 World Championship that was held as part of Key West Race Week. He was PRO for two Farr 40 World Championships — here in Miami and in Nassau, The Bahamas. He ran the Mumm 30 World Championships off Miami and the Snipe Women’s World Championships off Newport among many other notable events.
“You grow up racing and you never thought about regatta management. Those things just magically happened,” Brennan said. “For me, it was about giving back to the sport. Once you start doing it, you realize what it takes to produce a good regatta. It’s high-quality race management in all aspects.”
Brennan would love to highlight every single member of the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club race committee team. They are all integral to making sure the AON 2023 Etchells World Championships are organized at the highest level.
However, there are several individuals who have been with Brennan a long time and with whom he could not do without. He had high praise for timer Jill Smoak, windward mark boat captain John Lowe, pin boat captain Sean Adams and scribe Trish Smotherman —- all of whom have been with him for 25 years.
Brennan is fortunate to have a wife who fully supports his race management career. Kendra Brennan has provided her husband with great assistance by working as a recorder on the signal boat.
“Kenda is a critical part of the team by recording the finishes and entering all the results into YachtScoring,” Brennan said.
Brennan has managed major regattas all over the world and has fond memories of every event. However, the opportunity to serve as Principal Race Officer for the AON 2023 Etchells World Championships after such a long association with the class holds significance.
“The work required to produce this event is unbelievable. All the volunteers have been working for more than a year to make this happen,” Brennan said. “For me, the ability to produce world-class racing at a world championship is pretty special.”
Was doing a Transatlantic Race with Kevin McNeil; Asking about trucking business: I manage personalities; That was a light bulb moment; I don’t run races, I manage personalities You have to put the right people in the right spots; You have to put together a team of people that work well with each other
I know how to build a really good team; All the people around me are world-class at what they do and don’t get a lot of recognition for that fact
