Working to make sailing safer for all
Meet the Tackline team
Kat Dippel
Founder and Executive Vice President of Clinical Operations and Educational Programs
A nurse practitioner with over a decade of experience, Kat has spent her whole career envisioning a career where sailing and medicine didn't have to live in separate worlds. Deeply integrated into the West Coast sailing community, Kat has seen firsthand and heard stories about injuries and illnesses sustained offshore that she realized could have been better managed — if not prevented.
Kat has spent more than a decade in critical care medicine, work that has taught her to think clearly under pressure and anticipate needs before they arise. Kat has also raced, instructed, and sailed offshore for years, and she knows the community's people, culture, and realities — including how different it is to manage a medical problem when help is hours or days away.
Kat leads Tackline's approach to building medical preparedness that's actually designed for how sailors sail — translating what she knows from the ICU into what actually works when it's 3 am and you’re in the middle of a squall. She's driven by the idea that being prepared shouldn't mean being weighed down: safety and readiness can be approachable and truly useful, not just an item checked off the pre-race checklist.
For Kat, Tackline is where two parts of her life finally come together — a way to innovate on behalf of a community that has given her so much, and to make medical preparedness a natural part of offshore sailing culture, not a hurdle.
Eric Marxmiller
Founder and Executive Vice President of Business Strategy
Eric is a paramedic with 25 years in EMS. He started as an EMT in 2001, became a paramedic in 2014, and holds paramedic registrations in both the US and the UK. He still works shifts in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is also an Advanced Lecturer in Emergency Medicine at Stanford University.
Watching the America's Cup on San Francisco Bay, and working many on-water events there, led Eric to SailGP. He spent more than four years with the league, building and then leading its on-water and spectator medical program until SailGP brought it in-house. He has also spent years in Alaska's commercial fishing industry, running a family operation in Bristol Bay. Between all these experiences, he has seen a wide range of emergencies distant from help and resources. They showed him what medical resources on the water really require: good equipment combined with strong training gives people the best chance of surviving on the water.
Andy Dippel
Founder and Executive Vice President of Applied Technology & Product Development
An offshore sailor, aerospace engineer, educator, innovator, and lifelong tinkerer, Andy has spent more than 25 years working in and around the marine industry. He knows firsthand that when you’re far from shore, solutions need to be ready to perform.
As co-founder of Tackline Medical, Andy combines aerospace engineering, hands-on marine experience, and a passion for solving problems in unconventional ways. Whether troubleshooting at sea, teaching others, or building something from the ground up, his approach is simple: understand the problem, think differently, and find a better way forward.
Offshore sailing teaches you to be resourceful, prepared, and a little creative. You learn to anticipate problems, pay attention to the details, and make the most of what you have. With Tackline Medical, Andy puts that experience to work creating practical, innovative solutions for today’s offshore sailors. For him, innovation is about more than technology—it’s about curiosity, ingenuity, and the willingness to tackle problems that don’t come with easy answers.
Ready to sail with us?
Submit the form here and let’s work together to develop a solution that fits your requirements.
