Many of the racing sail are made with carbon or kevlar for strength. Some of the sail we recycle are these types of sail. They are not the traditional white that you see so commonly on our website. Below are three custom orders that use these alternative sails - We love the "pops" of color. What do you think?

At our headquarters on Custom House Wharf in Portland, Maine, we see lobster boats tied to the docks just outside our windows. We see their buoys tied to their boats, each with a unique color pattern. The patterns are to distinguish their buoys when they are set out in the water with traps below. The colors are almost a signature of sorts. 

For years, I have carried a mantle of guilt while thinking that I was the only one afflicted with a serious shopping condition. It has been cathartic and somewhat validating to witness other people breaking through the same shopping membrane in order to effectively begin the holiday gift-giving season.

The condition is the overwhelming urge to buy something for yourself instead of buying for others. It is feeling that arises when starting to shop for the holidays. Symptoms include but are not limited to:

• • Accelerated heartbeat in freshly stocked stores;
• • Lazer-like focus even when the selection is vast; or
• • Sweaty palms when products are priced to move.

 

Several women –who have asked to remain anonymous - have admitted to sharing this condition and have sheepishly acknowledged feeling guilty about it. If untreated, I have seen that the side effects can lead to wandering aimlessly through stores and flipping endlessly through racks while the seasonal retail world races by.

It is important to recognize this feeling for what it is and have the willingness to work through it. This doesn’t mean that we have forgotten that it is better to give than to receive. It doesn’t imply that we haven’t forgotten that it is the thought that counts.

I am the last person to stage an intervention that may keep a woman from a good deal on something that she wants. Instead, I provide the support to reach a compromise so that progress can be made on the entire gift list.

My advice is to go ahead and break the Holiday Shopping Membrane. Buy something nice for yourself. Take advantage of the good selection and sale prices. Then you will feel good about moving forward and shopping for all the loved ones on your holiday list.

And, remember, you are not alone!

SEA BAGS SHOPPING BAGS REINVENT RECYCLED GIFT-WRAP

During each transaction in the store, an interesting dilemma arises. When the customer gets the receipt and is handed her or his Sea Bag purchase.  This moment typically goes in one of the following ways:

• Customer asks, “Do you have a shopping bag?”
• Customer offers, “I don’t need a bag, I can put it (the purchase) in this other bag.”
• Customer observes, as their purchase becomes its own shopping bag.

As a company committed to sustainable practices, we have resisted the idea of paper shopping bags even made from recycled paper.  But we still had the dilemma over offering an appropriate shopping bag for purchases. Luckily the colorful solution was stockpiling before us and the epiphany arrived in time for the holiday season.

SHOPPING BAGS MADE FROM SPINNAKER! This is the type of sail that fills with wind and balloons out in front of the boat, referred to as flying.

We saw our piles of lighter weight nylon spinnaker as the chance for shopping bags and another way to reuse this resource. Think about it. The shopping bags, made from brightly colored, recycled spinnaker, are intended to double as giftwrap and be used long after the holiday season. Win-Win!

Many of us seek an alternative to the traditional ripping and crinkling of decorated paper and try to reduce the waste associated with traditional holiday giftwrap. Even after the gift is given, the packaging can be used again and again.

Shopping bags are available with purchase in Freeport and Portland.

Photo: Lance was the first to purchase a shopping bag to wrap his mother’s gift. As a mariner, he agreed that it was a “great idea.”