Team Seacats

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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