Captain David Meyer of Charter Yacht MAGNUM RIDE: Coming Full Circle

There is something awe-inspiring about coming full circle. Sometimes by coincidence, sometimes fate, sometimes a higher power–regardless of how, the outcome is often miraculous. Captain David Meyer of M/Y Magnum Ride shares the story of his family intertwining with the Denison family and how it all, truly, came full circle.

This article was written by Sarah Nadler. Photography courtesy of Bluecoast Digital.

My Great Uncle Tom Diak was a Sub Chaser commander during the war.

He was a Lieutenant Jr. Grade. His first boat was sunk during the war and the replacement for that boat was built by Dooley’s Basin & Dry Dock Company in 1945, where he took command. There were two Sub Chaser hulls built there.

Following the war, Tom stayed on for a time with the Department of the Navy as a consultant in the development of Submarine Chasers, and it was after the war that Tom met Frank Denison shortly after Broward Marine was opened as part of his consultancy.

Tom had always loved the water and yachting prior to the war, and being a Fort Lauderdale guy, Tom was unhappy with the options for insuring yachts, so he started his own insurance company insuring yachts. I do not know the name of the company as it was never told to me, but I do know that before the sale of the business his company insured over 75% of the yachts in Florida. Because of Tom’s friendship with Frank Denison, he ended up insuring a great number of the boats produced by Broward Marine. Tom was also frequently at the Lauderdale Yacht Club and Lighthouse Point Yacht Club, though I am not sure which he was a member of.

As a kid, I remember going to Big Uncle Tom’s yacht dressed in our Sunday’s best. I run a motor yacht, but I am a sailor at heart, and I used to ask him why he doesn’t sail. He would say, “I’m too damn old to be pulling those lines, but I can still enjoy the water and I can still live the tradition.”

“The love of the water never left my family.”

Captain David Meyer

It was later that my grandfather, Charles Paul Meyer, purchased a yacht that was also built by Broward Marine after Tom introduced him to the folks there, shortly before Tom passed away. CP (as we called him) was very proud of the boat and I still remember my first trip up the New River to Broward Marine to see where the boat was built.

In 1984, my father, Charles Paul Meyer, Jr. started a series of magazines that would later be sold to Cox Communications and become Trader Publications. One of those magazines was a “Buyers Guide” for power and sailing yachts. He remembered meeting the Denisons on one of his trips, and in the late 1980s, Kit Denison placed the first full-page ad in the yacht trader. I remember it well because I was there with my dad when the deal was signed. That was a big deal to us, and true to dad’s form, when he cashed the check for the ad, he took the first dollar and taped it to the coverof the first publication. That hung over his desk for many years until they downsized and some things were taken down. He always told me: “Remember those who believe in your vision and your product to support you financially,” among other things. Dad always spoke highly of Kit Denison and the history of the Denison relationship, back to Tom Diak and Frank Denison.

So, when Arlene [my wife] and I took over M/Y Magnum Ride and set up a charter program, we had a decision to make: who was going to be our charter manager. I didn’t think we were big enough to be a part of the Denison fleet, but after talking with Jennifer Saia, she made the introductions, and because of the long history with the Denison/Diak/Meyer families, the choice was easy when it came to which flag we would fly at the charter shows. With a big smile, I proudly hoisted the Denison flag at the 2022 Newport Charter Show.

It was later that my grandfather, Charles Paul Meyer, purchased a yacht that was also built by Broward Marine after Tom introduced him to the folks there, shortly before Tom passed away. CP (as we called him) was very proud of the boat and I still remember my first trip up the New River to Broward Marine to see where the boat was built.

In 1984, my father, Charles Paul Meyer, Jr. started a series of magazines that would later be sold to Cox Communications and become Trader Publications. One of those magazines was a “Buyers Guide” for power and sailing yachts. He remembered meeting the Denisons on one of his trips, and in the late 1980s, Kit Denison placed the first full-page ad in the yacht trader. I remember it well because I was there with my dad when the deal was signed. That was a big deal to us, and true to dad’s form, when he cashed the check for the ad, he took the first dollar and taped it to the cover of the first publication. That hung over his desk for many years until they downsized and some things were taken down. He always told me: “Remember those who believe in your vision and your product to support you financially,” among other things. Dad always spoke highly of Kit Denison and the history of the Denison relationship, back to Tom Diak and Frank Denison.

So, when Arlene [my wife] and I took over M/Y Magnum Ride and set up a charter program, we had a decision to make: who was going to be our charter manager. I didn’t think we were big enough to be a part of the Denison fleet, but after talking with Jennifer Saia, she made the introductions, and because of the long history with the Denison/Diak/Meyer families, the choice was easy when it came to which flag we would fly at the charter shows. With a big smile, I proudly hoisted the Denison flag at the 2022 Newport Charter Show.

After 75 years of the two families coming together, the story comes full circle today, as Denison charter yacht Magnum Ride features a full family crew: Captain David Meyer, his wife, Chef Arlene Meyer, and their youngest son, First Officer/Engineer Captain Benjamin Meyer. “The love of the water never left my family,” Captain Meyer says. The same can be said for the Denisons. It seems that the two families were meant to work together, in harmony, from the start.

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