Happy Spring?

As I look out the window of our offices at the Marblehead Trading Company boatyard, it looks like a classic spring day in Marblehead: blowing 40+ with waves breaking over the causeway and a hint of sleet in the air. Granted, it’s not always like this, but spring here is typically non-existent – we go straight from winter to summer – which seems to be part of what makes Marblehead sailors a different breed. Not only do you need to deal with a broad range of conditions on the water, but if you want to get your boat in before July, you better buck up and figure out how to start working on your pre-launch checklist in the snow (it was sleeting three days ago). It’s still ski season, but down on Long Island Sound, they’re gearing up for the first regatta of the season, and the water is probably already at a temperature where it won’t rise to until June here (if we’re lucky). It can be 80 degrees here, but as soon as you get a hint of a seabreeze, you can watch the temperature plummet before your eyes. It’s the only place I’ve ever lived where there’s a wind-chill factor in May.

This is the crucible from which our new line of performance sailing gear is formed, and it’s where we make sure it works. We designed and built the gear we think New England sailors need: rugged and versatile gear built out of high-tech fabrics that keep you comfortable and let you function at a high-level no matter what Mother Nature’s cooking up for you. At the moment, it’s not a broad line, but we don’t think you’ll find many gaps in it. If you do, tell us where you think they are, and we’ll take that into consideration in our product development process. We want to design our gear in partnership with our customers. Isn’t that the best way to make sure we’re selling a product that people want? We expect this blog to be one of the ways we keep in touch with our customers (you, we hope), and give you a way to keep in touch with us. We’ll use it to tell you what we’re up to, what we care about and what we’re thinking about. What we think is cool and what we think is stupid. Who’s done something really good and who’s done something not so good (see below). But we don’t want it to be a one-way conversation, so we invite you to use it the same way. Give it to us straight up – we can take it.

So here goes:

This picture popped up on Sailing Anarchy the other day. It’s a shot of one of the umpire boats at the Jackson Cup at Boston Yacht Club after it ejected its driver and went on an unauthorized, unguided high-speed ramble, ending up on the beach after a brief visit to the Eastern Yacht Club pier.The reason this is particularly relevant to us is that the boat belongs to Bill Mann, our Creative Director, who loaned it to the event. Needless to say, both the boat and its owner were somewhat deflated, and the umpire driving the boat, fairly sheepish. He’s a good guy, and shit happens, but there’s definitely a lesson to be learned here. Imagine if this had been one of the Pleon sailing coaches instead and had happened in July when the harbor is wall-to-wall boats with a gaggle of Optis nearby? The best possible outcome is significant boat damage. The worst possible outcome is unthinkable. Do I clip the kill switch lanyard onto myself every time I step on a power boat by myself? No. Should I? Probably. Should we do what we can to ensure that coaches and sailing instructors do? Absolutely. As our umpire friend demonstrated, it’s pretty easy to fall out of these things, and as the number of coach boats on the racetrack continues to grow, the more important it becomes to have their drivers attached to them.