About
Magazines
Advertise
Contact
Login
Menu
The City Magazine For Saint Augustine
  • Restaurants
  • Events
  • Stories
    • Food
    • People
    • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Shopping
    • Living
    • View All
  • About
    • About
    • Subscribe
    • Advertise
    • Get Featured
    • Contact
    • Advertiser Login
Subscribe to St. Augustine Social!
Subscribe
Give As Gift
  • Home
  • Restaurants
  • Events
  • Stories
    • Food
    • People
    • Community
    • Arts & Culture
    • Shopping
    • Living
    • View All
Local Flavor

Underway with Captain Dave Bennett

November 20, 2018 | St. Augustine Social

Power Boater by Trade, Blow Boater by Budget!

BY BILL KENYON
PHOTOS BY ADDISON FITZGERALD

Dave Bennett grew up in Tennessee, where he learned to sail on a small Sunfish sailboat. He attended the University of Tennessee and Middle Tennessee State before moving to Belize to open a scuba diving resort on the 11-acre island of Turnoff Atoll. Turnoff Island Resort is now a premier dive destination. After over 5,000 dives doing research, charting, plotting, and establishing the dive business, Bennett left the tropics and found his way back to the United States. He took a job as a Port Captain and Harbormaster in Boynton Beach before relocating to Jacksonville and joining the corporate world for the next 20 years.

Captain Dave Bennett

Dave is a cancer survivor, having beaten Hodgkins Lymphoma twice, once at age 35 and later at age 40. He left his corporate job, sold his house, bought a sailboat, and has been a full-time cruiser ever since. Dave is a serious sailor. We heard he recently sailed his 1981 Lancer sloop sixty miles offshore to go fishing and caught several mahi! Try that on a sailboat! He spent seven weeks on board his boat in the Bahamas last year, and raced in the Abaco Regatta, placing third in two of the races in which he competed. He is planning a four month trip as soon as funds will allow.

Captain Bennett loves his life and lives it to the fullest. He loves St. Augustine for the onshore, as well as offshore, boating opportunities. “St. Augustine is a fabulous city for sailing,” he says. “It is a boater’s dream world.”

BY THE NUMBERS

MAKE: 1981 LANCER SLOOP
NAME: “DAVE’S ESCAPE”
POWERED BY: SAILS AND A YANMAR 3GMD DIESEL
LENGTH OVERALL: 36’
BEAM: 79”
DRAFT: 6’ 2”
DISPLACEMENT: 10,000 LBS, 4,000 LB BALLAST KEEL
TOP SPEED: “I HAVEN’T QUITE PUSHED HER TO 11 KNOTS YET,” SAYS DAVE.

DAVE HAS CUSTOMIZED HIS VESSEL WITH AN EXTRA LARGE BIMINI TOP, SOLAR POWER, AND CUSTOM DESIGNED PORT SHADES THAT ALLOW THE PORTS TO BE OPEN IN POURING RAIN WITHOUT THE INTRUSION OF WATER.

Meet The Author
  • Website
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
St. Augustine Social
For and about St. Johns County residents, St. Augustine Social is the authority on a life well lived on the first coast. Designed to engage active families and the cultured reader, our editorial highlights the stories that residents and visitors truly want to know about our town like weekend guides, hometown talent, local food flavors, home improvement, top tastemakers, interesting personalities and nationwide shopping trends available right in our backyard.


LOCAL TEACHER BUILDS VERTICAL SKATE RAMP FOR COMMUNITY KIDS
Read More...

AS IF! THE 90’S FEST ANNOUNCES COOLIO AND KEN & DREW OF SISTER HAZEL
Read More...

The Best Chowder in St. Augustine
Read More...

to go dishes from st augustine restaurants
A Direct Link to Every Local Restaurant Menu in St. Augustine
Read More...

you might also be interested in...

The Best Chowder in St. Augustine

to go dishes from st augustine restaurants

A Direct Link to Every Local Restaurant Menu in St. Augustine

The Best Coffee Shops in St. Augustine

Add Your Business
We help local businesses & restaurants reach their target customers. Click to learn how to join St. Augustine Social.

The Celebration Society Logo

St. Augustine Social is THE city magazine for St. Augustine, FL. Our mission is to discover interesting stories and interpret St. Augustine's unique culture in a way that uplifts, educates and enlightens invested St. Augustinians. We live to create breathtaking imagery and engage in a warm, playful dialogue that promotes our town and the talent, commerce, food flavors, and top tastemakers that live here.

Search St. Augustine Jobs
Search St. Augustine Events
Search Plan a St. Augustine Wedding

USEFUL LINKS

  • Home
  • About
  • Careers
  • Advertising
  • Featured On Badges
  • Submit Your Event
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Newsletter Subscribe

ST. AUGUSTINE RESTAURANTS

  • All American
  • All Restaurants
  • Asian Restaurants
  • Coffee
  • Date Night
  • Family Friendly
  • Fast Casual
  • Fine Dining
  • Food Truck
  • International Restaurants
  • Italian Restaurants
  • Outdoor Dining
  • Seafood & Sushi
  • Steakhouse Restaurants
© 2021 St. Augustine Social - Occasions Media Group.
Crafted with     in St. Augustine, FL