Broward Marine yachts make history in South Florida [In the News]

This article was featured on the-triton.com in November 2022 and was written by Dori Cox.

Many captains and crew have worked on Broward Marine yachts over the years, and many still do today. In recognition of a long South Florida history of boatbuilding, from military minesweepers to yachts, an installation ceremony is scheduled for a State Florida Heritage Site marker to be installed at Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center on Nov. 12. The marker honors the birthplace of the modern marine industry — and the pioneers at its heart — in Broward County and Fort Lauderdale.

“We are honored, alongside our hardworking marine industry peers, as our families’ collective efforts to build and maintain Fort Lauderdale as an epicenter of the yachting industry are permanently recognized with a Florida Historical Marker — at the very location of the former Broward Marine and our Denison family homesite,” said Ken Denison, senior broker at Denison Yachting and youngest son of Frank and Gertrude Denison, founders of Broward Marine. “In the 100 years of Broward County’s history, there are only a handful of these sites, and none, until now, have paid homage to the pioneers of the yachting industry.”

Notable Broward Marine milestones include:

• The 1956 launch of the 95-foot Broward M/Y Alisa V, the largest private yacht built in the United States at that time.
• Full production of an all-aluminum series of Broward motor yachts in the 1970s.
• The 92-foot M/Y Jervet, the first-ever yacht with triple diesel engines, built by Broward in 1983.
• Broward’s 112-foot M/Y Britannia, built in the late 1980s with triple Detroit diesels for an unthinkable speed of 43 knots.
• Completion in the 1990s of the M/Y Britannia (formerly Pegasus), a 130-foot, triple-engine tri-deck, and the 156-foot M/Y Bubba Too, the largest U.S.-built aluminum vessel at the time.

Other prominent Browards include the 1999 M/Y COCOA BEAN, the 2000 M/Y AQUASITION, the 2001 M/Y LONDON LADY, the 2002 M/Y SIGRUN, the 2003 M/Y LADY NANCY, and the 2005 M/Y SOULMATE.

Please join History Fort Lauderdale, the city of Fort Lauderdale, MIASF (Marine Industries Association of South Florida), Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center, and the Denison family for the installation of the marker at 11 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, at the east entrance to Safe Harbor Lauderdale Marine Center, 2020 SW 20th St., Fort Lauderdale. The ceremony will be hosted by Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis, with the presentation of colors by the Sea Cadets and the U.S. Navy. Light bites and beverages will be served.

Read more about the history of Broward Marine here.