It's Cabo San Lucas, four something in the morning. Zari and I are sitting at Medano Beach reliving the most incredible NYE we just had. When we close our eyes we still see the fireworks that went off right beside and over us a couple of hours ago, they're more vibrant than ever.
The parties are winding down, city lights dimming, and even though twilight’s about to start, the stars seem to grow brighter. Suddenly, a brilliant shooting star streaks across the sky—so bright that I think it’s a firework remnant drifting by. We look around and realize it’s impossible; it had to be a massive meteor burning as it plunged into the ocean in front of us.
Inspired, we start talking about how great it would be to spend the night out on the beach. If only we’d brought a tent! And after seeing that blazing meteorite, I wonder—how amazing would it be to actually watch the stars from inside a tent?
The aspiring entrepreneur inside my head tells me to pull out my phone and search to see if a stargazing tent like that exists. This isn’t the first time I’ve had an idea and Googled it, usually only to find that it’s already been done or there’s a Kickstarter for it. Inventing isn’t easy in the 2000s! But this time? Nothing. Oh sure, there are lists of the "best stargazing tents," but they’re all just regular tents. None were purpose built for enjoying a night of stargazing!
As soon as we get back to the hotel, I immediately start sketching. Call me crazy, but when I get a good idea, I can’t sleep until it’s on paper. It’s truly a blessing, and a curse.
A couple of weeks later, I finish the initial design. The first version had clear plastic sheeting on top and a built-in, battery-powered fan for condensation. I ordered plastic samples from a few vendors, draped the clearest one over a wood frame in our backyard, and we crawled underneath to test it. We lay there, looking up, and right on cue—a shooting star streaked across the sky, clear as day through the plastic. We knew we were onto something.
I could go on about the trials and errors we went through over the next year, but I’ll spare you the details. Eventually, I had doubts about the durability of plastic in a tent. So, I started researching clear bug mesh options, which led me to Phifer’s American-made UltraVue®2 polyester mesh.
Back to the backyard for another test. I set up a frame, draped the mesh over it, and set up a plastic tent beside it. I couldn’t believe it—the mesh was just as clear as the plastic, and the stars looked even sharper. I covered only half the frame with the mesh, turned off all the lights, and lay underneath. It was incredible.; I couldn’t tell the difference between the half covered by mesh and the open sky. I even took a long-exposure photo, and it was the same story—the clarity was indistinguishable.
Excited, I went inside, cut a small piece of the mesh, crinkled it, stretched it hundreds of times, and tested it with a lighter. It melted but didn’t fray or combust. We dropped the plastic idea altogether. We now needed a rainfly, but I hated the idea of blocking the stars—or, even worse, running out in the middle of the night to put it on if the weather changed.
The awesomeness of invention though is that if there's a feature you don't like, you can change it. So, I designed a rainfly that could be accessed from inside the tent, secured on one end, or pulled across from within. With a now patent-pending design, the rainfly overlaps with the base of the tent, making it fully waterproof without sacrificing the view.
The result? A tent that’s durable, crystal-clear, easy to set up, and lets you actually sleep under the stars. Introducing our Sky View XL! Sky View XL – Sky View Tents
PS - this is us at Midnight in a blurry screenshot taken from a blurry video with fireworks bursting all around. :) Just a couple of hours before the start of this story!
