The dinghy

As I wrote previously, John Lennon became inspired to learn how to sail after a trip on a sailboat named ‘Imagine’ in Florida in 1980. He subsequently instructed his assistant to buy a simple sailboat.

First, however, Lennon would begin his marine adventures with an even more basic boat. He purchased a dinghy with a small, two-horsepower outboard motor from Coneys Marine in Huntington, New York.

The Lennons’ nearby home, called Cannon Hill, in Laurel Hollow had a dock on Cold Spring Harbor. Lennon subsequently took the boat out with his son, Sean, his assistant, and Sean’s nanny.

The maiden voyage in the dinghy was certainly memorable. While moving around in the boat out in the harbor, they accidently bumped the motor, causing it to stop and not restart. They had to row the boat back home.

“I’m sure glad Mother wasn’t here to see this,” John exclaimed. “We’d have never lived it down!”[1] 

[1] Womack, Kenneth. John Lennon 1980 – The Last Days in the Life. Omnibus Press. 2020. p.101.