Dave Chambers

by Dave Chambers
(NW Arizona )

Mac and I met in the early 80’s at the end of a dock at Dinner Key Marina. It was the only slip large enough to harbor his 65’ish foot sailing yacht. He had hired a couple sailing buddies of mine to work on his yacht. At the time, I was working next door at Merrill Stevens Yacht Yard on a motor yacht when Mac pulled up in his Maserati. It was a Friday afternoon, I was finished and just hanging out on deck waiting as my friends were also finishing up. Mac came aboard dressed sharp, rich appearance and I didn’t know what to expect. Turned out, he was the most charming, friendly and generous guy I’d met so far, in Miami.

Over the next few years I became friends and sailing buddies with Mac after he had sold his large sailboat and had purchased a Herreshoff 31’ Cat Ketch. I had become involved with that manufacturer and it’s where we met again. I was in my late 20’s and I’d guess Mac was early 60’s. Our connection was sailing and he loved his Cat Ketch named Disconnect. We would meet at his home on Friday afternoons in Coconut Grove where he kept Disconnect at his private dock. We’d sail around Biscayne Bay for a couple hours on Fridays and he’d call sometimes on other days and we’d go out for a couple hours and a couple of beers too. He told me many stories about the peaks in his business and fun stories of big name rockers playing basketball in the Studios’ parking lot. Our friendship grew to where I was often at his home, becoming also friends with his wife at the time, Dani. We also enjoyed going out to the Grove’s local Chinese restaurant. We were all friends now and Mac asked me to take Dani out on the boat to try to teach Dani how to sail. We did that a few times and Mac would often be waiting at the dock for us. We’d drop Dani off and go out again until dusk.

Those are some of the fondest memories of my lifetime.Mac Emerman was a rock star to me. I was very sad when I read he had passed.

Dave Chambers