Reach High

Entrepreneur Tom Seguin, top left, owner of Bradenton jewelry store Suncoast Gem Lab, played Spiderman on a recent Saturday morning: He rappelled off the top of the tallest building in Manatee County, the 160-foot Bel Mare condo tower in Palmetto, on the banks of the Manatee River.

Valerie Bliss, top right, former vice president of development for the Boys & Girls Club of Manatee County, joined Seguin on the wall. The duo climbed down to raise interest in the annual United Way giving campaign and another rappelling event scheduled for Boulder, Colo., in September.

Seguin says rock climbing, and scaling down condo buildings, is an exhilarating hobby that clears his mind. Just don't ask him to jump out of a plane. “I am not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of falling,” he tells Coffee Talk. “I went skydiving one time, and I will never do that again.”