Sailing in Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor

Cold Spring Harbor and Oyster Bay

Continuing with the origin story of John Lennon’s ‘Grow Old With Me,’ I wrote previously about how Lennon purchased a 14-foot sailboat from Coneys Marine. Tyler Coneys subsequently piloted the boat to the Lennons’ house in Laurel Hollow, Long Island.

Soon Coneys and Lennon took the boat out onto Cold Spring Harbor, with Coneys teaching Lennon the fundamentals of sailing. Coneys spent several weeks in May of 1980 teaching Lennon. 

“We went sailing as many times as I could after work,” Coneys said. “We spent a lot of time talking together on the boat and going out sailing. We'd just sail around Cold Spring Harbor [and] Oyster Bay.”[1]

For Lennon, these sailing adventures were a dream come true.

“Because my grandfather was a sailor, my father always felt an affinity with the sea,” Sean Lennon, Lennon’s younger son, said.[2] He recalled the trips out in the green boat. “I think in my mind that I named it Flower,” Sean said.[3]

A voracious reader, Lennon had his assistant buy books about the art of sailing.1 Their sailing trips took them as far out into the Sound as The Sand Hole, an inlet on the western edge of Caumsett State Historic Park Preserve.1  

One day, Lennon, his son Sean, Coneys, Sean’s nanny, and Lennon’s assistant went out on a sailing trip. They each took turns steering the boat, including Sean.

“’See that ribbon?’ Tyler pointed at a strand of red plastic tied to the mast,” Sean recalled many years later. ‘When that ribbon is pointing that way, turn the wheel this way. When the ribbon changes direction, turn the other way.’ Simple enough, even for a four-year-old.”[2] 

However, it appears that it was not simple enough for Lennon’s assistant. The moment he took control, the boat capsized. The entire party – save the highly experienced Coneys – was thrown into the water.

“As I wondered what my toes might look like to the fish below, I noticed my favorite pair of flip-flops floating swiftly out to sea,” Sean recalled.[2]

“I was very upset because I loved those flip-flops, but [dad] said, ‘Don't worry, we'll get you another pair.' I said, 'Are there any fish in the water?’ and he was like, ‘Yes,' which really scared me. So I remember my dad protecting me in the water. It's actually a nice memory, just floating around in the ocean with my dad and this capsized boat.”[4]

While a pleasant memory, Sean also noted the coincidence regarding the assistant who had capsized the family’s boat. After Lennon’s murder, this same assistant was found to have stolen a number of items from the Lennons’ home, including his diaries.[2]

[1] Womack, Kenneth. John Lennon 1980 – The Last Days in the Life. Omnibus Press. 2020. P104.

[2] Sean Lennon’s holidays with his father. The Times. January 16, 2010.

[3] John Lennon: The Life. Philip Norman. HarperCollins. 2009 (paperback). p.810.

[4] John Lennon: The Life. Philip Norman. HarperCollins. 2009 (paperback). p.810-811.