'Te amo' - The 'I Love You' lifejacket
Lifejackets are not the first thing that spring to mind when you think about love.
'te amo' means 'I love you' in Spanish. I'd known that for a while but just recently other people have been noticing that too. Sailing Uma came to tour our factory when they were visiting Southampton recently, and we spotted comments underneath their video interview that people were starting to call our BackTow design the 'I love you lifejacket'. The idea of that is just perfect to me.
Although a lifejacket is not the most conventional present, as we head towards Christmas the organised early birds are getting their orders in. The thought that a TeamO lifejacket is a present you might buy for your most precious person to wear, and for them to trust our design to keep them safe should the moment of need come along, is incredibly humbling and moving.
This week we have heard from customers who are buying it for their sister, who has recently set off to cruise around the world with her boyfriend and their dog. For a younger brother who has decided that 2021 is his Fastnet year. For a cousin who is sailing across the Pacific garbage patch, applying her marine biology skills to conduct research experiments as she goes.
It drives me further to imagine that our effort at TeamO, working with my brother and our small but dedicated crew to create better safety products for sailors, becomes the ultimate 'I love you' statement when it's given as a gift to the adventurers heading out to sea by those staying on dry land.