We were lucky to catch up with Richie Mahoney recently and have shared our conversation below.
Richie, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?
During the 1998 Orange Bowl in Miami, I chartered a 47 foot sailboat on Biscayne Bay and took several of my classmates from the University of Tennessee’s Pride of the Southland Marching Band sailing for the day. Not only was it fun, but I was able to see firsthand how rewarding it was to introduce people to sailing that otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?
Over the past 20 plus years, I have had the privilege to expose thousands upon thousands of guests to the magic of sailing on a multitude of vessels spanning the entire Gulf of Mexico, Eastern Seaboard, Bahamas, and Caribbean. Moving away from just freelance captain work, in 2020 I opened Suncoast Sailing in Treasure Island, Florida with a boat I leased from a local competitor.
By the end of 2021, Suncoast Sailing stepped into the big leagues with the purchase of “Suncoast Horizon,” a 55ft schooner designed by the famed marine architect Merritt Walter. “Suncoast Horizon” is US Coast Guard inspected for up to 28 passengers. Her beauty on the water quickly made her the most photographed boat in all of Tampa Bay.
I currently hold a 1600 / 3000 ton Master’s license from the United States Coast Guard. I began sailing at the age of 4 on the mountain lakes of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. I’ve has sailed on the collegiate level, done extensive coastal cruising, made ocean passages, and has skippered in several high profile regattas. Professionally, I’ve captained a wide array of vessels from the offshore oil and gas industry to offshore tug boats to high capacity passenger vessels and everything in between.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
Coming fresh off of the COVID-19 shutdowns of 2020, which (being in Florida) Suncoast Sailing was luckily only closed down for 5 weeks. We saw our demand skyrocket as folks were looking for something outdoors to do and going out sailing was the answer for many. Through May, June, and into July Suncoast Sailing was running 3 and 4 sailing excursion trips each day aboard our chartered 12 passenger boat. The future looked bright until one fateful evening in July when a captain lost control of the vessel and ended up entangled with an open draw bridge. Before the captain could remove the boat, the drawbridge operator began closing the span on top of the sailboat, destroying the rig. I watched everything unfold from across John’s pass, totally helpless to do anything to help. Within a few fleeting minutes, I saw not only my business but the boat, which wasn’t even mine, completely destroyed.
At the time I was living aboard another boat, my personal cruising sailboat and was faced with a decision. I could either start chartering my personal boat full time or close up shop. In August 2020 Suncoast Sailing had 5 employees to cover all of the sailing trips so, I decided to move back on land amongst the “dirt dwellers” and continue on with business with only 6 passengers at a time aboard my 42 foot ketch, then named “Boomerang Love.” I quickly found myself with keys to an empty apartment as I didn’t own any furniture, and my laptop computer to run the day to day operations of Suncoast Sailing.
Having a limited capacity of 6 passengers presented several challenges as there are only so many hours in a day and only so many trips that can go out. Our team of 5 Captains and crew swelled to 10 to cover all of the trips that were going out and I spent more time on the phone and in front of a computer than I care to admit. By September of 2021, we calculated we had already turned away around 9500 passengers due to our limited capacity. These were the ones we could actually account for; who knows how many we couldn’t. The decision was obvious and in the words of Chief Brody from Jaws, “We’re going to need a bigger boat!”
Armed with that information the search for another boat was on! The week of Thanksgiving 2021, Michael, VP of Operations made a telephone call to a charter operator in Texas about a schooner for sale. The following week I was on a flight from Tampa Bay to Houston to take my first look at the boat that would later become “Suncoast Horizon”. We were able to close the deal on the boat the day before Christmas Eve and on January 9, 2022, my crew and I were on our way back to Florida from the other side of the Gulf of Mexico.
How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?
The charter boat business in the Tampa Bay market is very competitive. There are many established businesses that have been in the industry for decades, some for generations. Every year there is also in influx of new players that have this romantic idea that they want to have their own charter business. Some are very successful, most however are gone just as quickly as they were established. In Suncoast Sailing’s infancy, we had the support of a competitor that had been established for decades as well as the support (still today) from one of the largest passenger vessel operators on the Florida West Coast. The personal and professional relationships with both organizations helped in how Suncoast Sailing evolved into a first class operation from day one. From customer service to Captain and crew interaction with our Guests aboard our sailing excursions, many lessons were learned from the well established charter operator here in Tampa Bay.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sailsuncoast.com
- Instagram: @sailsuncoast
- Facebook: facebook.com/sailsuncoast
- Other: TikTok: @sailsuncoast