Yes, there is such a thing as good press and we just got a bunch at High Octane One Designs.

Well….what-da-ya-think?  I’ve still got to move some stuff around, finish filling in some content, and get the sponsor’s information loaded up – but I’m pretty happy with it so far … not real sure about that header yet though.

If any of you have a blog site out there, you realize the volumes of spam comments and “trackbacks” you can get.  Even though there is some built in spam protection, I’ve been having to clear out anywhere from 5 to 30 a day and occasionally I would accidentally snare a real comment from one of you.  Hopefully, that is no more.  I’ve installed an Akismet plugin that should compare all comments and filter out the ones that are not genuine.  If you experience any problems with the software, feel free to email me HERE.

Say, we’ve got some website improvements coming soon – if you check in with us and see things that look different and/or incomplete, that’s probably because I have the new template activated to test some of the changes as I fine tune it with our graphics and for our content.

Thanks to the folks at AdventureOnline.TV, we have a new video player with bonus items! Click the link below (or the obnoxious “CLICK FOR VIDEO” thing up top). After seeing the new Tybee 500 Promotional Video (it’s the default video that loads up), you must see the WWF Season 3 Ep 1 video (WWF = World Wave Federation) hosted by Neitz Boy who has coined modern sailing phrases such as “one-edging” it (flying a hull). There is everything there from skydiving, kiteboarding, surfing, and even Laser sailing right after a hurricane. Seriously – it’s good stuff and thanks to Brian Karr for his talent and effort in putting together all that incredible footage. If you click on the links to go to the AdventureOnline.TV site, you can buy full length, high quality, DVD’s of many of the videos, including the 2006 Tybee 500, you see there.

Hey, also note that there is a new “maximize” feature to see the videos in a larger format…Seacats say “cool” and keep “one-edging it” Brian.

It was time for me to give back a little to our sailing club and I operated as PRO for a day of racing in our club series. Except for chasing the shifty lake breeze around for a bit, it was actually a good time. Thanks to Bill and Tommy for their help. Though none of us had actually performed previously in any capacity as race committee, operations went with only one minor mistake. As the first race ended, the wind shifted 180 degrees so we scrambled to readjust the marks for the new breeze while the last boats were finishing. I had just begun the next start sequence when I realized that we forgot to move the finish line pin to the other side of the committee boat since the wind was now from the opposite direction. Thankfully I noticed before the racers started to ask about it. We postponed the sequence and started over again smoothly and got one more race in. I admit though, I was so caught up with the action and process that I completely forgot to take pictures until the very end. Here’s the last boat who is also the high PHRF fleet winner for the day.

I did get a coat of polyester resin on the wood of the one meter plug – I plan on getting a good deal down with it tomorrow.
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Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

With some good help from some folks at the Wordpress Support forum (www.wordpress.org), we figured out what was keeping the comment links from working.  The way the links now look in the address bar isn’t exactly how I want them – but it’s working and I’ll take it!  Comment away again!

I spent the early part of this week in St. Louis on business (Sorry Mike H.! I started to call but we were working 12 hour days).Before I left, I sanded a bit on the F18 bow and found a spot where the new gelcoat was a little thin – it left a dark spot from the repair beneath. I’ll have to shoot another couple of coats on it before I go any further. We’ll be doing that this weekend.

Originally uploaded by Team Seacats.

We just updated the site software…I noticed that the comment links don’t appear to be working – I’ll get on that soon.

Getting healed up and should be back at it this weekend.  The voltage regulator is in and I’ve been studying up on generator tuning.  I’ve also got to get the F18 ready to race at the Reggae Regatta and I’ll post the work here.

No boat work happened yesterday because I’ve had a pretty bad pinched nerve in my back that left me able to only crawl from the couch to the bathroom and back. Fortunately Bonnie took care of the rest for me. As luck would have it, 30 minutes ago, with a ‘pop’, something settled in my lower back so I can actually stand now. However, I’m headed to the doc today to look into it anyway because this thing has been slowly progressing in the past year or so. The generator part is on order and hopefully I’ll be able to get some work in on the boat this week.

I added the “video” button that should open the AdventureOnline.tv video console in the top right last night. There is some javascript that will attempt to resize the window and remove the toolbars and scrollbars for your best viewing experience – however, some folks might not be able to get that button to operate properly with the security settings in their browser. Please try it and let me know, by clicking “comments” below, if it works or doesn’t work for you. Thank you!

We’ll have some more information soon, but we just got our video player, provided by AdventureOnline.tv, working! Click the link below to see it (you will need to enable pop-ups for our site…after clicking the link if the player doesn’t appear, click on your popup message (usually at the top of your browser) and choose to “enable pop-ups for www.teamseacats.com”. We promise not to send you any other kind of popups ever!

AdventureOnline.tv will be covering this year’s race up the coast and we have secured at least one day with an onboard camera on our boat in addition to helicopter footage! More details soon.

Team Seacats Video Player

I had to go to California for a couple of days on a business trip and as it turned out, I had an open schedule this morning. I realized that I was only 45 minutes away from the Performance Catamarans factory (manufacturers of both the F18 we sail and the I20 we are rebuilding) and I called Jack Young to see if I could visit. Jack graciously welcomed me and I showed up at about 10am this morning and was introduced to Mr. Gino Morrelli (Of the Morrelli & Melvin design team) who was assisting with the infusion molding process of a couple of Nacra F18 hull halves. It was quite an experience to see how these and other Performance Catamarans are manufactured and I took plenty of pictures. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my digital camera (I hadn’t planned for this) so I had to use a disposable camera…it will be a few days before I have the pictures ready to upload. At any rate, I really appreciate Jack’s willingness to meet with me, show me around the facility, and talk shop.

I’m sitting in the Los Angeles airport at the moment awaiting the boarding call for the “red-eye” to Atlanta…it’s nearly 2am back home where I left only a day ago – it’s going to be a long night but I’m hoping to spend a little time wetsanding tomorrow after some quality time with Bonnie and a healthy nap.

All of us at Team Seacats would like to welcome Astral Buoyancy Company onboard with us for the run up the coast! Astral Buoyancy is a relatively new company that builds high quality / high ingenuity life vests and they’re based right nearby in Asheville, NC. For about two years I’ve been on a personal mission to find a life jacket that suits our needs in a distance race like the Tybee 500. I was about to give up until a few months ago while visiting an outdoor adventure supply store, I saw a rack of very solidly built life vests from a company that I hadn’t heard of. After trying on a few different models, I quickly realized that these guys have put a LOT of thought and effort in making a high quality piece of equipment and accessories to go with them. Consider that we carry on our jackets the following: a personal EPIRB, a strobe, a flare, a flashlight, a gps, food, water, spare parts (high-tech line and a shackle or two), an 18′ leash, and a rescue knife. Not only does this jacket have a spot for nearly all of this, but it also has an ingenious quick release attachment point for the leash we are required to carry. I’m excited to give the jackets their first test run and to have another high calibre company supporting us for our run up the coast. Keep your eye on Astral Buoyancy – these guys really think “out of the box” and are just starting to break into the sailing industry.

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