Chris Daves

Chris grew up in West Palm Beach, Florida, fishing with his dad on their 18-foot wood boat with two 18-horsepower outboards. In those days, the entire area of the Lake Worth Lagoon would fill first with mullet in the fall and then with mackerel in the winter and the family loved fishing there. At age six, Chris took his first trip to the Bahamas. This was the first of many hundreds of trips to the Bahamas he would enjoy.

Chris graduated from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee in 1976. Shortly thereafter, he took his first job as a yacht broker at Soverel Marine, a company that manufactured 30-, 36-, and 48-foot sailboats and was owned by Naval Commander Bill Soverel. These boats were campaigned in countless regattas up and down the Eastern Seaboard.

While racing, Chris met Dave Gilman, the owner of Gilman Yachts on Royal Palm Way in Palm Beach. Gilman saw something in Chris and invited him to come sell powerboats in Palm Beach. This was a ten-year relationship during which Chris met Ken Denison while selling a 98-foot Spec boat Broward Marine was building. He also came into contact with Frank and Gertrude Denison at that time. A year later, another new Broward was sold by Chris, the 88-foot FANTASY.

It occurred to Chris that although Broward had over 100 yachts in service, nobody in the organization was marketing their brokerage yachts. He approached the family with the idea of an “in-house” Broward Marine Broker. The idea clicked and he left Gilman to begin the brokerage at Broward Marine. This had a very good outcome for the owners of Broward Marine and for Chris. The relationship lasted ten years, until the company was sold, at which time Chris and Ken formed Denison and Daves Yachting. Denison and Daves became a successful company through which Ken and Chris accommodated their many clients that had been developed during the many years prior. In 2016, Ken and Chris merged Denison and Daves with Denison Yachting.

Chris’s vast 45 years of experience in the yacht brokerage industry is eclipsed by few active yacht brokers. His trustworthy knowledge of the yacht brokerage industry is well-known.

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