The U.S. Sailing Association
has named Mobilian Donnie Brennan boatwright for the United States Olympic sailing team
Thursday, August 17, 2006
By CASANDRA ANDREWS
Mobile Press-Register Staff Reporter
(Reprinted with Permission from www.press-register.com)
MOBILE – People in sailing circles have a name for Donnie Brennan. Those who look for ways to cut seconds from their times in competition racing call the Mobile man the “Merchant of Mojo.”
Brennan and his business partner Tom Copeman are known far and wide for their skills at customizing various parts of sailboats. New owners have been known to send a just-off-the-assembly line vessel directly to Mobile before they ever see the boat, wanting the local craftsmen to work their magic.
“They say ‘Do the mojo on it,” Brennan said.
Brennan is so good at what he does that he was recently tapped by the U.S. Sailing Association to be the boatwright for America’s Olympic sailing team. Which means he’ll be bringing his expertise to the Olympic trials and games in and around Beijing in coming years.
Beginning Friday, which is two years before the start of the 2008 Olympic Games, 34 members of the U.S. sailing team will get a taste of Olympic competition at the Good Luck Beijing 2006 Qingdao International Regatta. The event runs through the end of the month.
The first of two annual Olympic test events, the regatta is at the Qingdao International Marina in Qingdao, a coastal city located 430 miles east of Beijing. Brennan traveled there last week to prepare for the event.
“It’s my job to make sure all the boats are optimized and ready to go,” Brennan said of what he’ll be expected to do for the top-ranked sailors.
What he does while he’s there depends on what happens with the boats that race. If some part of the structure of a boat is damaged, it’s Brennan’s job to fix it as quickly as possible.
He’s bringing a stash of personal products to help make repairs go smoother. In an ice chest, Brennan said he packed sandpaper, sanders and carbon fiber, fabrics, core materials and other Fiberglas supplies.
“Abrasives are a big part of my life,” Brennan joked a few weeks back. “When people ask what I do for a living I say ‘I sand stuff’.”
Two years ago, during Olympic sailing events in Greece, Brennan said he had a hard time finding the kind of sandpaper he liked. During those games he was hired as a private contractor for sailing teams from several other countries.
While in China this month, Brennan has plans to look for an apartment to rent so when he returns next year for Olympic trials he can bring his wife, Sally.
When he’s not traveling to the Far East, Brennan can usually be found in shorts and a T-shirt at Diversified Marine Services off Dauphin Island Parkway, where he and Copeman refinish and repair hulls, as well as modify keels, rudders and rigging. Their business also includes restoring old vessels.
They’ve been in the same spot for about 13 years, Brennan said, adding that “without Mr. Copeman, I could never do this alone.”
Industrial fans stirred the air inside the shop on a recent afternoon, circulating the pungent aroma of fresh paint and epoxy. Two boats sat in the middle of the business, one a shell of its former
The local company caters to the serious one-design sailor, Brennan said, which means that about 85 percent of their clients live out of town. The term one-design refers to a class boats’ standards for materials and methods used in construction, according to officials with U.S. Sailing.
Brennan said he handles more of the Fiberglas repairs while Copeman’s expertise is woodworking. “He’s very, very good at it,” Brennan said. “Between the two of us we discovered we could do just about anything.”
Their customers seem to agree. When Brennan tells someone it will be at least three months before he can look at his boat, he typically waits without complaint. Customers also don’t mind hauling their pride and joy behind trucks for 10 or 12 hours just to get to the business near Mobile Bay.
Some clients seal up boat pieces in bubblewrap and ship them to Alabama for inspection.
“He’s just been around boats all his life,” said Brennan’s wife, Sally. “He’s so meticulous. He’s a craftsman.”
One of eight children, Brennan is the son of a boat builder. He grew up in New Orleans then moved to Mobile as a teenager.
Brennan has taught sailboating courses and retains memberships at Buccaneer Yacht Club and New Orleans Yacht Club.
A few months before Hurricane Katrina destroyed his waterfront home in Mobile, Brennan wrote to the Louisiana club, telling them his plans to resign.
“About six weeks went by and I get this certificate in the mail,” he said. “They rejected my resignation and made me a lifetime honorary member.”
When he and his family evacuated their home last August, he grabbed the letter. “That was one of the first things I took out,” Brennan said. “That was one of my prize possessions.”
