As they say in Oliver “it’s a fine life” and it is a fine feeling when you sell your first product!

We had been fortunate to be able to place a couple of our prototype bags in a lovely little boutique shop in Yarmouth, Blue.   The owners loved our bags and said there and then they would take them ‘as is’.  That was on the Wednesday and come the weekend they sold both of them and took and order for one more. They now want more to stock !!

No champagne corks just yet, but it is a lovely feeling and I want to say a personal thank you to all involved, especially the very talented, hard working Marcia who is the inspiration behind Wightsails.  I am just the very humble businessman.

A huge thanks to John who has produced the website, which is now well and truly in Beta ‘as they say’.

We are still tinkering so bear with us, but please feel free to make any suggestions.  Please feel free to test the payment sections

We are having a photo shoot on Thursday (weather permitting) so expect to see some new home page pictures on Friday.

Enjoy the site and if you purchased, please don’t forget to send us your pictures for ‘wightsails in the wild‘ gallery and the chance to win the photography competition.

We have a new member of the Wightsails team who is proving to be a bit of a distraction.

Say hello to chief tester – Ruby

It was a beautiful morning, the tide was out so I popped down to Appley beach in Ryde and took some pictures.  More on the site, which I hope will be live this week or beginning of next (any day now ….).

I was on the beach the other morning when the sun was shining bright and the tide was out.  I wanted to try and take some pictures of our prototypes. Anyway, I kid you not, but as I was trying to hang one of our bags on a lifebouy a nice lady walked by and said she loved the bag, in fact she liked them all.  She asked if she could try it on?  ”Of course” I replied and brokered a deal for a photo shoot.

I promise you I don’t know this women, but she is one of our first customers and I like her

This is the first attempt of making a windbreak pole from the oak that recently arrived.  You will see we had to extend the lathe and the wood has a habit of bouncing around like a tennis ball on a tight rope walk.  Nothing that a wooden structure and some rubber from an old bike tyre couldn’t fix.   Yes, I here you all scream it must take you hours to make one pole!!!  and yes you would be right, but now I have worked it out, built the jig, holding the chisel round the right way and I think I can turn a few an hour.  Still very expensive when you think of my real hourly rate, but if I can turn a large amount to get started it should last.

If, as I hope, the windbreaks are a roaring success, I will get someone to turn them for me (i.e. someone who knows what they are doing).  Anyway, this is the half finished pole.  A bit of sanding and bobs your uncle.

I just had to take some pictures of what we have been playing with.  Still early days, but these bags have been out and about and we have already had some positive feedback.  Logos are arriving this week so expect to see some glossy pictures later this week or next week.     We have also looked at the ‘festival trolley’.  A great piece of luggage for carrying your kit to the Isle of Wight festival or the isle of Wight Bestival.  We of course support sensible drinking, but just imagine how much drink and food you can get in one of these – and still look good!!

Anyway, much, much more to come.   The website will be finished this week (won’t it John:)).  I will introduce John when the website goes live, but he is a bit of a guru and I am lucky to have his support so I will be shamelessly plugging his talents along the way.

I also need to thank Paul Newell Sailmaker and Medina Sailcare of Cowes who are big supporters of Wightsails and have provided material that would have otherwise been thrown away.  I have had a chance to look at these businesses and I can say that if I needed a new sail making I would not hesitate to visit one of these sail lofts.  Great guys and great sails.  Thanks !

More experimenting and I must say I like these.  I showed them to the very nice lady from the Isle of Wight Chamber of Commerce and she wanted one.   Still working on designs, but edging closer to a range of bags and windbreaks, but if you are reading and have a design in mind, we can make it.  In fact, we can make anything  ’A royal we’ !!

Wooden poles that is!  Taken from a mighty oak that was blown down in gales recently, we have sourced from our good friends at whitefield wood yard,  a few poles for our windbreaks.

Whitefield woodyard  are a great company with an ethos similar to Wightsails.  All their wood is sourced locally from fallen trees and sustainable managed forests and they are based on the Isle of Wight so we are also supporting local business in our own little way.

The oak is of course a strong wood that should last a lifetime.  It may bend a little, but we are hoping this will only add character to our windbreaks.

We will be machining these ourselves and not using metal tips, which tend to fall off and in any event are hardly eco friendly.    So whilst some of our competitors promise a windbreak made out of recycled products most of them are using wood that may lead to the increase in the destruction of forests and creating ‘new’ products in the form of metal tips.   I am hoping all our products will be 100% recyled material, right down to the cotton (although the cotton is proving tricky at the moment).

Watch out for more hilarous pictures of me trying to make a square pole round (ish).