At first through owning and chartering a Moorings 4500 in the BVI, and now through private ownership, Jeff and Adrienne Cone have learned a lot from cruising on their Moorings 4800 and now Moorings 4500/ Leopard 45, named Wind Therapy.
Tune into the recording of their live stream, "Ask a Moorings and Leopard Owner", to learn about their unusual journey as yacht owners and what they’ve learned along the way. These veteran cruisers will offer a ton of valuable insights based on their experience, including and the pros and cons of purchasing their catamaran new through The Moorings Yacht Ownership and how they converted a charter boat into a liveaboard boat. The couple took questions and share their thoughts on life as full-time cruisers.
The hour-long provided useful advice and thought-provoking ideas for anyone interested in cruising, from those just considering the lifestyle to other current owners. Own viewer said, "This was a very informative hour. Love hearing their whole story and timeline. Love their modifications to the 4 cabin, 4 head layout. Thank you!"
In the hour-long live stream, Adrienne talks about her favorite advantages of the Ownership Program, "There were several advantages to use buying our yacht through The Moorings. We were not seasoned sailors when we bought our boat but allowed us to learn how to sail our boat over time. We'd take four weeks of vacation a year, two in the spring and two in the fall. We would spend a week on our boat with a captain learning to dock, sail, pick-up a mooring, and then we would spend a week on a bareboat, practicing everything we learned. Over five years we gained the confidence to sail the world in our boat," Adrienne explains.
And what about finances? Jeff was sure to fill us in, "Originally we couldn't afford to buy the boat outright. Our five-year plan was to retire, buy a boat and sail away. By buying our boat with The Moorings we put down the down payment, The Moorings gave us a guaranteed income, we took the check we got every month, which was more than our mortgage, and put it into the mortgage. We knew over five years we would have a deeply reduced amount we owed on the boat," Adrienne added, "And don't forget, when we, unfortunately, we lost our first Moorings Catamaran in Hurricane Irma, The Moorings still gave us that guaranteed income check every month until we got the payout from the insurance company, so that was a big help. And that insurance payout covered the down payment on our next boat, a Moorings 4500."
The couple also discussed the modifications and showed videos and images of how they turned their boat into a full-time cruising catamaran.
The Cone’s plan for the next few years includes a two-year Caribbean exploration, an Atlantic crossing, a Mediterranean cruise, and a voyage to the Pacific via the Panama Canal. But if you know anything about sailing, plans often change depending on which way the wind blows.