Spring Has Sprung?

As we look out the windows of our offices at the Marblehead Trading Company boatyard, it looks like a classic spring in Marblehead. In other words, some activity, but mostly still buttoned up pretty tight.

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 start working on your pre-launch checklist in the snow.

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 temperature is probably already where it won’t get to here until June (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 performance sailing gear is formed, and it’s where we make sure it works. Here, we design 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.

2007 was the first year of "the new Atlantis", and the reception was fantastic. People seemed to like that we're thinking differently about sailing gear, and they seemed to like the direction we went. For 2008, we’ve made some improvements to the things that were already working well, and we added a few new pieces that our customers and our dealers suggested. It’s not a broad line, but we don’t think you’ll find many gaps. If you do, tell us where you think they are and we’ll take that into consideration in our product development process.

Our "Discover" brand idea is built around the concept that no matter what we all like to do on or around the water, our gear can make the experience better. Whether it's racing sailboats, spending an evening at anchor in a quiet cove, chasing stripers in a center-console or just kicking around the waterfront, we want our customers to enjoy the time they spend around the water, and we want to help them do it.

We'd love to hear about what you do in your Atlantis gear, and if you send us pictures, we'll put them in the gallery on our website. Its always fun to see pictures of people having fun.