Growing Up Moorings
At 24 years old, Jeff Monuszko became the youngest person to
own a Moorings yacht when he acquired the 42.3 monohull
“Luff Out Loud” in 2015. Now, he wants to inspire a new
generation of sailors to take the helm and discover the thrill
of this timeless tradition.
First of all, congratulations. You’re a record breaker, our
youngest owner! How does that feel?
I think what excites me more about the situation is not so
much being a record breaker, but bringing some youthful
awareness to the idea of yacht chartering.
I want to show my generation that a Moorings sailing
vacation really is the experience of a lifetime; that it can be
an affordable reality for each and every one of us; and that
you don’t have to settle for the ordinary, on vacation or life in
general.
Naturally, some people are going to pick this up and go “how
in the world did he do that at just 24 years old?”
Well the short answer would be hard work, but as they say, “do
something you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”
To this day, I love what I do. My former dream job is now my
day job, and my passionate motivation is how I “did it.”
Most importantly, none of this would have been possible
without some financial assistance from my parents in
conjunction with smart decisions on my part and a little bit
of luck.
When did you first take an interest in sailing?
My parents used to own a small monohull. As I understand it,
the first time I was put on that sailboat I was in a diaper and
apparently cried miserably the entire time. They decided that
they would sell the boat and try again in a few years.
A few years and a sister later, my parents tried again, this
time with The Moorings in the Bahamas. We instantly fell in
love with sailing vacations, absolutely loved them, and took
them all the way up until I left the nest. I wouldn’t say sailing
actually became a real hobby until just a few years ago. I was
on a business trip with a coworker in Maui. We went out for
a snorkeling excursion on a catamaran and caught some
awesome wind. Our skippers were true professionals, helping
us reach speeds up to 15 knots. Afterward, I realized I had to
do that again. Naturally, The Moorings was my first choice.
So what happened after you got home from Maui?
I discovered The Moorings’ relationship with Offshore
Sailing School and signed up for their Fast Track to Cruising
course. I was so surprised how much I still remembered.
It was just like riding a bike! I skippered my first charter
on a Moorings 37.2 in the BVI a few weeks later. The
experience was even better than I remembered it as a child.
Tell me more about that Moorings yacht charter experience…
The chart briefing combined with the skills I learned at
Offshore Sailing School and the level of excellence I expected
from The Moorings ensured that our trip went off without a
hitch! By the second morning, I had a full-blown first mate.
She wanted to do all the “work.” We had a blast and made
memories to last a lifetime. I just assumed the trip would be as
good as any Moorings vacation I had ever been on, and it was!
When did the idea of owning a yacht start to take shape?
What ultimately inspired you to go for it?
After a handful of Moorings yacht charters as an adult, the idea started
growing in the back of my head, “Man, it’d be cool to own
one of these one day,” but it seemed huge for someone my
age. Still, I was curious, so I reached out to The Moorings Yacht
Ownership team to crunch the numbers. At the rate I was
chartering, I actually could’ve saved money by owning a
Moorings 4800 for a couple of those years. What inspired
me to “pull the trigger” was the personalized level of service
and care I received from The Moorings team. You just can’t
beat being greeted by name by warm-hearted people that
genuinely want to make sure you have the time of your life
out there on the water.
For more information on the Moorings Ownership
program, visit mooringsyachtownership.com.
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