Giles M. Kelly became interested in boats at a young age and trained at the New York State Merchant Marine Academy. Upon graduation in 1942, he volunteered for naval duty and served for four years in the Pacific theater. After the war, he attended Williams College and Princeton University, where he received a master's degree in public affairs.

Kelly has served in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the U.S. Foreign Service while remaining an active member of the Navy’s Ready Reserve. In 1968 he was recalled to active duty and served as chief of public affairs at NATO's Atlantic Command in Norfolk. His naval assignments have included a mission to the South Pole, studies at the Naval War College, cruiser and destroyer duty at sea, and staff duty in the Persian Gulf and at the Pentagon. Kelly ran his own sailing school in Washington, D.C., worked at the Smithsonian Institution, and served as an adjunct professor at the American University.

Kelly was asked by the Presidential Yacht Trust to take command of Sequoia, a position he held from 1983 through 1988. It was this experience which led him to write his book Sequoia: Presidential Yacht. Kelly has contributed to many publications, including Yachting, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.

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