The Racing Exploits of California-Based Yacht Broker Dave Millett

Dave Millett, competitive sailor and boating enthusiast

Long-term Denison yacht broker Dave Millett has had years of accomplishments both in and out of the offices of Denison Yachting. With a successful career in sailing as well as selling (like what we did there?), Millett has a number of “wins”–literal ones–under his belt. This spring, Millett has had three mega moments to write home about (that’s us–we’re home).

Hailing from sunny California, Dave was born to a boating family in Newport Beach. He has been sailing and boating since the young age of just six years old, growing to become a competitive sailor and boating enthusiast with over 40 years of experience. He has been racing sailboats most of his life.

Dave joined Denison Yachting in 2011 at the Marina del Rey office in California shortly after his time as top salesman at Long Beach Yacht Sales, and as manager of the world’s third largest Sea Ray dealer, Newport Boats, before that. He was awarded Salesperson of the Year in 2010 for dollar volume as well as reaching second in units sold. His addition to the Denison team was remarkable, adding quickly to the number of quality listings the company provides, as well as incredible service. Helping Denison to expand even further in California, Millett opened the Newport Beach office in 2012 and a second San Diego office in 2019.

Dave’s sailing accomplishments include multiple PHRF championships on both US coasts as helmsman and tactician, Etchell’s fleet championships also on both coasts as tactician, as well as 10 Transpacs and Pacific Cups and more than 20 long-distance races to various ports in Mexico. We got with him to talk about his three most recent wins.

Puerto Vallarta Race
March 10-18, 2022

I was recruited to a Santa Cruz 50 called “Trouble” early in the year to race with them as Sailing Master and Watch Captain for the San Diego to Puerto Vallarta Race in late March, sponsored by the San Diego Yacht Club. This is a 1,050-mile race that starts in the harbor in San Diego and finishes at Punta Mita, Nayarit, Mexico.

We started in Class ORR – 4. Not the fastest class, but not the slowest either. The race took us 5 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes, and 37 seconds. We finished first in our class. After more than 5 days of racing, 1^st and 2^nd were only separated by about 45 minutes. We celebrated with fantastic crew dinners and great parties after finishing.

Cortez Racing Association Tribute Regatta
April 16, 2022

This is a series of races in San Diego Harbor. It is called the Tribute Regatta, sailed in mid-April. This Regatta honors past sailors that have greatly helped the sport. I did this on the boat I normally sail, which is a TP52, a 52’ ultra-light racing boat. For Race 1, I was the tactician and for Race 2, I was the driver. We won both races and the fastest class.

Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race
April 22-23, 2022

This is the Newport Beach to Ensenada, Mexico race. For it, I also sailed on the TP52 “Saga”. I was tactician for this race and also a driver and trimmer. This race is only 123 miles, but it is the best-attended race in California and at one time was the world’s largest international yacht race, with close to 500 entries annually. This year, there were about 165 entries.

Normally this isn’t a very fast race, but this year the wind showed up with authority. We were in the fastest class. The race was sailed in 16 to 22 knots of breeze for most of the time and we saw boat speeds in the 16 to 22 range for most of the afternoon.

A new race record was set by the fastest boat in our class, but it wasn’t fast enough, as we were able to hold on and win based on handicap adjustments by just over 11 minutes. Our elapsed time was 9 hours, 31 minutes, and 1 second. All the boats in our class beat the old elapsed time record except us; we missed it by 4 minutes, but that still makes us the 9^th fastest yacht in the 74-year history of the race to ever complete the course and the fastest 52’ footer to ever complete the course. We had 11 on board and everyone contributed to our success.

The Ensenada race was the owner of Saga’s (John Brynjolfsson) first time competing in that race and we won. In 74 years, that has not happened very often.

Ensenada was a great first step on our way to preparing for the Newport Beach to Cabo San Lucas Race in March 2023 and the Transpac Race, 2,250 miles from Long Beach, California to Honolulu, Hawaii, with a first start on June 27, 2023.

With so many years and nautical miles covered, it is no doubt that Dave Millett is a seasoned vet in yachting. Of his last race, he reminisced, “no one got hurt, we didn’t break anything, we brought everything back in one piece.” Funny, but important–even this simple fact is a huge accomplishment in sailboat racing.