Hang around the docks long enough and you’ll see a lot of marine businesses come and go. When you find one that has stuck for decades through economic ups and downs there’s a sense of comfort and reassurance that comes with that relationship.
So even though the builder of the O’Day 31 that I bought in 1985 from Coneys Marine is long gone, it’s gratifying to still be working with the family owned and operated outfit in Huntington, New York, on Long Island’s North Shore, that just celebrated its 50th anniversary.
“Over the last 50 years, we’ve met thousands of people, many of whom are now lifelong customers,” says third-generation Austin Coneys, a sales and repair technician. “We strive to leave them with the notion that sailing is simple and that anyone can do it.”
From the start, Coneys has been a family affair, and those ties are a big piece of what’s kept it successful since Matt and Bob Coneys decided to change things up in 1974, when would-be robbers broke into their wholesale dry cleaning business and set it on fire. Rather than rebuild the Maspeth, Queens, operation started by their father in 1919, the brothers turned to the water.
Matt was already an accomplished sailor who had won national Rhodes 19 competitions. Bob was a powerboat owner who had done some sailing, and their sons and nephews had all grown up sailing at local yacht clubs like Centerport and Port Washington. So the pair decided to buy Halesite Marine, which was for sale near Bob’s house by Huntington Harbor.
They spent three months setting up the new business, painting the buildings and cranes a bold red that is now a company trademark. They opened on July 4, 1974.
Some of their children who had worked in the dry cleaning business shifted to become boat salesmen and maintainers. And as the operation and the family grew, more and more of them went to work at renamed Coneys Marine. At one point, in 2019, 13 family members worked in the business. As the company celebrated its 50th anniversary with a party for customers in December, nine Coneys from two generations were on the payroll, which has been the average number over the last half-century.
Matt had seven children. Of them, Matt Junior, Kevin, Eddie, Jimmy, and Tommy worked in the business. Matt Junior and Eddie have retired. Matty (Matt III) worked at Coneys for about a decade. Kevin’s son, Kevin Junior, and daughter, Lucie, work for Coneys now. Tommy’s daughter, Sam, handles work orders and other paperwork. Bob’s three sons, Gill, Tyler, and Grant, all worked for the company with Tyler and Grant still there, as is Grant’s son, Austin.
Secretary Carlene Singer, who became a de facto family member, came with the business. She had started working for Halesite Marine in 1969 and retired only last year.
In the beginning, Coneys Marine sold all kinds of boats including outboard runabouts, dinghies, canoes, and daysailers. But over the years, the business specialized to sell exclusively larger monohull sailboats, currently Catalina and Jeanneau, and inflatable dinghies. The family estimates it has sold more than 1,000 boats of all types since 1974. They have handled fabled names in sailboat manufacturing, many of which failed to weather economic downturns. They sold Columbia and Ericson yachts and were the largest dealers in the country for O’Day and Pearson. Coneys also maintains an array of 300 rental moorings in Huntington Harbor.
“We have witnessed economic downturns in the ’80s, the booms of the ’90s, the housing crisis of 2008, and more recently, the impact of Covid-19,” Austin says.
“But if sales go flat, we still have the ability to provide service,” adds Kevin, the company president. “And that gets us through.”
Their most famous customer was musician John Lennon, who lived nearby in Laurel Hollow. In 1979 he sent a representative to buy a 14-foot O’Day Javelin daysailer. Kevin and Tyler Coneys attempted to teach the former Beatle the rudiments of sailing, with Tyler giving him lessons near his home on Cold Spring Harbor.
“I’m not sure that John ever learned how to sail,” Kevin says. But Lennon loved being on the water, so Tyler, Kevin, and his sister Ellen chartered a Hinckley 43 with a professional captain with Lennon and sailed from Newport to Bermuda. Kevin said that they had several days of rough weather and the singer-songwriter was the only one onboard who did not get seasick. He spent much of the time in the cabin writing lyrics for what became his Double Fantasy album, released in 1980.
So, what’s it like to work in a company where most of the employees are family?
“We have some very good discussions,” Grant says, and things are said that probably wouldn’t be shared with those who aren’t related. But arguments are rare, he says, because “everybody’s kind of found their area,” in sales, administration, repairs, or running the dock operation.
Lucie is the latest Coneys to join the business after working in human resources for Atlantic Monthly magazine for a dozen years.
“It was jarring at first to be around family all the time, because I know everybody in a different capacity from growing up with them. These are my uncles, my dad, my brother, cousins, and so it was definitely strange at first to be like, ‘OK, now they are also like your colleagues,’ ’’ she says. “But it’s really great. And just seeing the way everybody’s kind of found their niche and works together and has done so for 50 years, that’s pretty incredible.”
Austin notes that “on my desk sits a 1983 ruby red pamphlet that has a statement of purpose in it, and it still holds true today. It says, ‘Our love of sailing has brought a friendly, uncomplicated, straightforward attitude to our work. [The] Coneys are committed to making sailors out of novices…and happier sailors out of the most seasoned ‘salts.’ ”
As one of those old salts who still owns the O’Day 31 I bought from Coneys in 1985, it’s comforting to know that the same people who sold me the boat are still around to help me keep it sailing.
June 2025
