I had an idea earlier in the summer (wot summer?) for a new mount to put a go pro camera on. It was inspired by the barrel mounting system that Jono designed and built for his round Britain windsurf, and basically involved an aluminium plate that screws into the rear footstrap screws with a cut off piece of boom tubing clamped to (with car exhaust fittings).
I'd never seen it done before and thought it might give some interesting angles. Possibly it would revolutionise windsurf film making and I'd be able to patent it and retire to a luxury beachfront house in Maui.
So I destroyed all the drill bits in my toolbox to create holes the right size, shouted and swore at inanimate objects a lot and finally declared myself finished, and then settled down to wait for the wind.
And waited.
And waited.
And forgot all about it.
And many years later, the wind came back.
And obviously I was too keen to sail to actually try and use it. But yesterday I was unable to sail due to children (they ruin your life), but managed to persuade Clyde Waite to be a crash test dummy, after signing a disclaimer that I wouldn't be liable if he stuck the pole system through his new Simmer sails.
So, in the approaching darkness of a November afternoon at windy Avon beach, Clyde set out.
On the positive side, the mount didn't seem to limit his sailing much. He said it made the rig a bit prone to wanting to catapult him, but that's more likely just his poor technique on his part. It had no effect on his back loops anyway, he crashed those just the same as always. His wave riding looking pretty good though. I didn't take a lot of shots from the shore since I was trying to stop a one year old playing in the traffic, but did get this turn.
Anyway, I was keen to see how it would look from the mount.
Unfortunately, and I'm not going to keep the suspense going any longer. It looked pretty crap.
You might notice the version Clyde used has a shorter pole than the first pic. This is because I did some test shots and thought a shorter pole would give a wide enough view, so cut it down to make it easier to sail (less weight on the board). However it would definitely give a better view to be further away, so will try again with a longer pole (other side of boom). Also a nicer day, better light etc might help to freeze the action better.
I might give it one more go. But am less hopeful for the Maui beachfront house from this one for now.
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| half finished mount |
 |
| go pro camera in place |
I'd never seen it done before and thought it might give some interesting angles. Possibly it would revolutionise windsurf film making and I'd be able to patent it and retire to a luxury beachfront house in Maui.
So I destroyed all the drill bits in my toolbox to create holes the right size, shouted and swore at inanimate objects a lot and finally declared myself finished, and then settled down to wait for the wind.
And waited.
And waited.
And forgot all about it.
And many years later, the wind came back.
And obviously I was too keen to sail to actually try and use it. But yesterday I was unable to sail due to children (they ruin your life), but managed to persuade Clyde Waite to be a crash test dummy, after signing a disclaimer that I wouldn't be liable if he stuck the pole system through his new Simmer sails.
So, in the approaching darkness of a November afternoon at windy Avon beach, Clyde set out.
On the positive side, the mount didn't seem to limit his sailing much. He said it made the rig a bit prone to wanting to catapult him, but that's more likely just his poor technique on his part. It had no effect on his back loops anyway, he crashed those just the same as always. His wave riding looking pretty good though. I didn't take a lot of shots from the shore since I was trying to stop a one year old playing in the traffic, but did get this turn.
Anyway, I was keen to see how it would look from the mount.
Unfortunately, and I'm not going to keep the suspense going any longer. It looked pretty crap.
You might notice the version Clyde used has a shorter pole than the first pic. This is because I did some test shots and thought a shorter pole would give a wide enough view, so cut it down to make it easier to sail (less weight on the board). However it would definitely give a better view to be further away, so will try again with a longer pole (other side of boom). Also a nicer day, better light etc might help to freeze the action better.
I might give it one more go. But am less hopeful for the Maui beachfront house from this one for now.
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