At first Eileen and I were very hesitant buying a used charter boat from Moorings Sunsail because of the amount of bareboat wear and tear they get over a five year period as well as some of the stories we had heard. In fact, so many that we almost considered buying new; however, that would have left less money for the cruising kitty and none for essential upgrades.
We took a chance and bought a used 2015 Leopard 44 catamaran that we found on the Leopard Brokerage site and were MORE than pleased with the whole process which started in August, 2020 and ended with closing in November, 2020 in at the Mooring Sunsail St. Lucia base. We were SO satisfied that we did this video interview with base manager Lene Volney which touches on the phase out process, employees at the St Lucia base as well as a bonus of tips to sailing St Lucia.
During the "phase out" process, Mooring Sunsail's professional highly trained crew worked on our boat for over two months fixing and repairing and has handed over our boat which has surveyed in "Very Good Condition" meaning it is almost in brand new condition inside and out! Thank you Moorings Sunsail! It is our desire that you also benefit from our experience.
BOTTOM LINE is that there are currently two 2015 Leopard 44 owners versions on the market now for $567K and $569K with little to no upgrades for essentially the same boat minus the owner's version sofa and full shower which in our opinion is a poor use of space. This price differential leaves ample funds (savings of $250K+) for our upgrades as we transform our bareboat empty canvas into a world class blue water cruising live aboard for circumnavigation. Stay tuned by subscribing to our Blown Away channel as we over multiple videos will describe the entire process of upgrades and make sure you check out our new website at https://www.sailingblownaway.com for detailed upgrade information that will inspire and educated so you can do the same.
NEW TO OUR CHANNEL? We are Eileen and Brown Councill. Welcome to our channel and a glimpse into our life adventure! 2020 was a year of uncertainty and change (for all of us, right?), but we overcame the challenges and decided it was time to chase our dream, to sail around the world! Did I mention that we had very NO sailing experience? Before leaving Qingdao, China, our home of 4 years, we sold almost all of our earthly possessions and started our international search to find the right sailboat that we would call "home." After 5 months of unanticipated twists and turns, we found what we were looking for, a used Leopard 44' Catamaran located in St. Lucia.
So, here begins our journey, filled with unmatched excitement and honestly, a bit of trepidation as well. We have much to learn as we travel the world on our floating home and we intend to document that journey and share it with you. We are so glad you have decided to join us, and we hope that you will find our story so compelling that it will inspire you to chase your dreams too!
As a viewer, we consider you to be part of our family and look forward to getting to know you. Don't hesitate to comment on our videos and ask questions. We will do our best to answer every correspondence! All we ask is that you have patience with us as we work really hard to improve our camera/video techniques and ability to tell a story. Hopefully, you will be as BLOWN AWAY from watching, as we are in experiencing and producing our adventures!
HOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US? If you wish to support our video efforts, all we ask is that you SUBSCRIBE, give a THUMBS UP, SHARE our videos with your friends, AND COMMENT! WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET TO KNOW US MORE DEEPLY? It would be an honor and pleasure to deepen our relationship with you as a Patron. Please click on the following link to see how: https://www.patreon.com/sailingblownaway
Welcome to the moorings in SunSail St Lucia. Thank you. Where the fun will never stop. I love it.
God, that's true with us too. All right, so Lynn, tell us a little bit about SunSail moorings.
What are the two names? SunSail and moorings, the brands remain different. SunSail is more like a
fun brand. More sailing, more fun. And our boat is a SunSail boat, right? Our boat is a SunSail boat.
Oh, we're about sailing and fun. More fun and SunSail kind of keying and lots of mooring life. Same as
moorings, but moorings is more like a luxurious part of the branding. What do you get extra with
moorings if you become a moorings customer? If you become a moorings customer, you actually pay more
for the boat because it includes fueling. Make your preference. You ask for what you want before
you take the boat and this will be given to you on your charter. That's awesome. And if you do the
Leopard 58, you get Cosmo as a captain, right? You get Cosmo and the crew, the captain, the chef and the hostess.
Oh, you don't have to lift a finger. Not a finger. I really like that. Tell us a little bit about yourself,
Lynn. Well, I've been with the company for 31 years, it will be this year. I started in the hotel
when we used to be at Marigold Bay. I went down to customer service and when I went down to customer
service, I said, this is where I belong. When I was able to sit on the boat and sit with the
clients and discuss, how was your charter? How was your boat through the debrief? It was just
a breath of fresh air. And I said, this is where I belong, right there on the boat. And then I moved
up to the ladder and I've been enjoying it ever since. What do you like about Bermuda? Oh, I love
being private. Take a boat out and have your privacy. Taking the boat out and having fun.
And even my staff also, they enjoy the boat in its segment, the sailing segment of the boat,
where you can sail, have fun. The monohulls, where you can actually enjoy the momentum of sailing.
The catamarans, more like a home, which you can do the difference in. Some people who don't like
sailing can do the catamarans and be on the water. You don't have to be yielding. And those who love
sailing, like the hardcore sailing people, will take the sailboat and enjoy. So we love both
segments, the catamarans and the monohulls. We enjoy this. And my staff feel very good about
the boat. They love taking care of it. They love making sure that it is in good shape. You know,
I can really tell that, having been with Cosmo on our sea trial, he is a perfectionist and
literally treats the boat like it's his boat. He pampers that cat. It's like his baby. It
is. Cosmo doesn't want me to come on his boat. He always tells me, stay away.
That's an attitude that is really pervasive in y'all's organization. Tell us, Lynn, your
top sailing tips for St. Lucia. What do you like to do when you get out on the boat
and go sailing and pass that on to our viewers? Top sailing tip for St. Lucia. We love,
my staff and I, sometimes we go out on semi-regattas just to give them the break
out of work sometimes. We do that once a year. Sometimes we try twice a year. But they love,
they look forward to it. And we love going down to the coastline. We sail. Everybody takes a turn
on the wheel. We love Anse-Cochon. Anse-Cochon is one of the most beautiful snorkeling places
in St. Lucia. Great snorkeling. Blue waters, white sandy beach, lovely. Anse-Cochon is an
overnight anchorage and it can be a day stop as well. We love Marigo Bay. This is where we used
to be before. Marigo Bay is the most beautiful anchorage, beautiful bay in the Caribbean. And
we have the Petons. This is the most beautiful landmark for St. Lucia. Just seeing this from
afar, this is just great. And every time we go up, yes we're from the islands, most of us,
it's like a breath of fresh air. You know, St. Lucia is very beautiful. We say that to ourselves.
St. Lucia is very beautiful. Don't you know that? Which I remind ourselves, you know,
it's beautiful. Both the island and the people. How many boats do you all phase out in a year
on average? Average of maybe 10 to 15 boats. Tell us about the phase out. Why is it important
for moorings and sun sail? And what do you want people to know about the phase out and what it
involves? With the phase out, we want to make sure that clients know that if you're buying a
boat from the moorings, you'll be getting a very good boat. It's not because it's five years old
that you think you'll get a broken boat and nothing will be back together again. But we're
going to fix your boat very good. Of course, we will follow the phase out manual and we'll
go according to the manual. But we will give you a good boat. We will work with the surveyor.
And the surveyor we have here is Chris Kessley. He's the only one on the island. And that doesn't
mean because he's the only one who works with us. He works with the buyer and he works with us.
And we know what he's looking for. And we'd rather him be tough on us than be tough. So we know that
So that drives you to be better in the whole process. Tell us about the average tenure of
your staff. The majority of our staff is within that range, 25-20. Maybe a few just came in while
we came here for the six years we moved over. But they blended in very nicely because we're
actually teaching them the morals of moorings and sun sail, what we live up to, what we keep
from them. Especially we have this guy, Small Change, who is like a boat builder.
Any boat that got damaged, we give it to him to fix it. And the thing about it is when he fixes
the boat, if there's an accident, he wants to fix it, right? Because with the surveyor,
Chris Kessley, when there's a problem, he brings it back into our faces. So we do it right at the
Tell us a little bit about the boat that we bought, the Leopard 44. What do you like about
the Leopard 44? What do customers like about the Leopard 44? The Leopard 44 is a very,
a very nice boat. When this boat came in, just like the other mooring boats,
we love where we're sitting right now. The foul cockpit. Because you don't have to walk around
the boat to get to the bow. So this is just a luxury that even both moorings and sun sail boat
has. This is the last Leopard 44 in the fleet, right? We will miss it. Are you going to miss it?
We will miss it. It's a beautiful boat, I must say. It sails very well. Because whenever the
boats, we receive new boats, when the skipper takes it and they come back and they give us
their P1 or different type of boat, how does it sail? What do you think about that? This one is
still good. This one is a fast boat. I did have good views for the Leopard 44. It sails very well.
Good. That's good to know. Well, your loss is our gain. I know. We appreciate that. Enjoy every
bit of it. We will. Lynn, this concludes our interview. I thank you so much for your time.
And I just want to share from Eileen's and I's experience that you guys are true professionals
with a huge smile on your face. You're just a pleasure to get to know as well as to work with.
And we had originally thought that we're paying less for a used catamaran that's really didn't
be done and that there was going to be limited things that you all would do in order to get this
thing to where it's saleable and you all have exceeded all of our expectations. And literally,
the boat is surveying. It's pretty scary looking at first before you all started the phase out,
but it is surveying as a boat in very good condition. That's what we love seeing.
And what I want to do is I want to encourage people not to be fearful of purchasing from
Mornings and Sunset. Guys, people, they have to phase these boats out because they're getting
the latest and greatest because their customer demands this. And they're going to make sure that
you're satisfied with this new, probably the most expensive thing that you've spent your money on.
And oftentimes what you're going to be living on, as in the case of Eileen and myself. And I just
want you to know and feel confident, especially here in St. Lucia from our experience, that your
expectations are going to be exceeded and you're going to be extremely happy with the handover
as we have been also. And thank you for joining us, everybody. Please make sure you subscribe
to Blown Away channel. Make sure you hit the like button. We would love it if you shared this
information with other people. And we want to hear from you. So send us some comments
down below and we really appreciate you guys tuning in. Thanks a lot.
