Trial of the best cameraposition according this forum

A few weeks ago there was a discussion here about camerapositions.

So I changed my helmet camera into a camera mounted astern on a little pole on a support bar which I already had.
Tried it today.

A bit cold (3 degrees Celsius), a tail of northern swell and according the meteo above 5 Bft. Which wasn't by the way.

Because of this new camera position I was tempted to extend the scenes to other things then just the sea.
Watching everything back, I'm content with this cam position.
Forum thank you.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMKThlRmCGE&list=UL

ronald reeder

Interesting video. I liked your tow vehicle.

Camera position was good. The open tramp weave let a lot of water through. Not a big problem though.

Angle of view seemed a bit narrower than my gopro. Not much visibility of skipper/crew.

Yes, but good for holding channel locks!

The open tramp is essential in passing a high break. Though there are ofcourse also downsides to a net-tramp.
But sailing away from the beach with a normal tramp was sometimes impossible for me (pushed back).

Yes the angle of view is always the problem with cameras, I think. You never have the range of the human eye.

But with my Sanyo-camera, I think its rather good. Mind you; there is a straight horizon in the images and I'm hanging out almost just sidewards away from the camera.
I've no experience with a go-pro camera, but I'm now always out of the picture.

Which is good by the way.

ronald reeder

your dedication to sailing is admirable
or, your insane... or both

that makes me appreciate Florida all that much more

There is a nuclear plant just north of where he sails, could explain a few things

what kind of boat is that? Interesting seeing a singlehander sailing a sloop rig

(I)like you Mn3. Red your profile.

Tony, to make it even more worse: I'm literally the neighbour of the nuclear plant. I live nextdoor on the dike of the provincial road. Sometimes I get the post from them and viceversa.

When the nuclear reactor should explode, I'm the first to be just broken down in atomes.

For that reason I have less fear

ronald

Jay, you have to digg dowm in the files of this catsailor forum. I wrote both in the general forum as well as in the homebuilt section several times about my catdesign.

It's a homebuilt one-off 15 ft epoxy-carbon cat with full foam inside and based on the good old Prindle-15

ronald

Outstanding. Especially since you can actually FUNCTION at 3 deg Celsius.

Yes Jay and 3 degrees Celsius plus 20 knot makes a windchill of around minus 6!

But let me tell you a little secret of my place near the nuclear-plant. The reactor has a wateroutlet in the sea for her secundary coolwater.

In fact there is a blown-off each day via a pipe in the sea of this hot water.
(I used to walk/swimm to the end of this pipe for having a hot bubble bath in my studenttime).

So starting to sail alongside this pipe should theoretically make things more bearable. But practically it doesn't care a hang!

ronald

What I like best when watching youtube sailing videos, and something that seems sorely lacking, is seeing how the crew handles transitions; tacking and gybing of course, but also wave crests and big wind changes.

But Daniel, honestly, you do know, don't you, that transitions are the necessary evil in catsailing.

I mean if I do not gybe at a certain moment (I never tack), I will endup in England. In your case you will endup in Afrika, I guess.
So you have to.

But shooting that movements with a onboard cam is always a disillusion. What you endup seeing are images of stiff figures that go on all fours laborious to the other side.
And in my case with the cam astern and doing a gybe you will only see a big tired face, flashing before the lens.

No, I carefully delete all these moments in my footage.

ronald

why do you never tack?

First its never necesssary and second I can't.

My 15 ft cat is 2.55 m beamwide and is for that reason (or some other?) difficult to turn through the wind. Only the oldfashioned stitchin/stitchout manoeuvre works.
Besides that, because my boom is rather low situated, when tacking, I have to squeeze my fat body on my belly to the other side.

I assure you, not a thrilling sight and very uncomfortable too.

Doing a gibe in 25 knots in high waves is not only exciting but feels more safe then tacking

ronald

haha, ok .. gotcha

Thanks for the video Ronald. Now i'm waiting for part 2 where we find out what happens to the pliers.
Is it superhuman to sail in the cold north sea this time of year?

here is another camera angle idea:
you can make a pole for a gopro with a ski pole and tape as a shim for the gopro mount.. there are also videos showing how to use 3/4" pvc, endocarps, and an elbow fitting. search for gopro stick.
once you have the stick, hang the camera from the bottom of the stick. attach that to the boom or anywhere. i like the boom because it is stable but it moves when you let the traveler out. the single camera angle gets old pretty fast so this allows a small amount of variety.

The pliers was a little practical joke to show it is a home-made cat (you'r the first who mentioned it).

I think that indeed this new cam position eventually will bore also.

And I don't consider myself as superhuman. Well, I obviously am an exception with regard to catsailing in wintertime.
But with windsurfing I have a lot colleagues at sea in this time. Not to mention the wave-surfers and the kitesurfers!

A time ago I've told this forum that most dutch beaches can't be reached by sailors in wintertime.

So I suppose there are enough dutch catsailors who would also like to sail in wintertime but can't.
(At least that's what I hope for the honour of my country)


ronald

gopro has a helmet mount system

I just bought a camera to use on the boat. I was headed toward a GoPro Hero Black edition but the reviews on Amazon were terrible (battery life issues, freezing up, etc.). I just ordered a Contour+2 instead that has some of the same features (using an iphone as a viewfinder / start-stop remote, setup, etc.) and will be trying it out at spring fever.

Jake,
I bought and used a Contour with GPS (April 2011 on a ski trip), which was an amazing camera in itself. The Storyteller software is great. Lightweight and easy to mount anywhere. The problem we had was that with most pc's and laptops more than a year or two old we had issues with playback. The files were a processor's hog and was difficult to render the video playback at all. Battery life was an issue also. Those same videos play fine now on my latest machine, which is less than a year old. At the time is was better than the GoPro products available. The built-in GPS and size were the reasons we went with the Contour.

Well done!

With my computers in my graphics shop, I should have plenty of horsepower to work with the videos (video cards are important here). The reviews on the GoPro were terrible but the reviews on the Contour+2 were all positive.

I was snowboarding with a friends Contour (v1 I think), seemed very solid but have not seen the footage yet.

This video compares both cameras and they both look very similar, although in low light the Gopro is a real winner (not relevant while sailing obviously).
http://vimeo.com/54860841

http://vimeo.com/67869387
here is a new bow mount position for me.
atc9k camera.

ps you can see the main sheet hanging down because it is rigged outside the sleeve. got tangled up in it and capsized in the vid.