2012 FBYC Offshore Spring Series #1
Sailing continued on Sunday with a a string of 3rd places by Wavelength in the 3 races on the 1st day of the Fishing Bay Yacht Club Offshore Spring Series. Results.
Photo by Andrea Winner.
Category: Video
Any posts that contain videos that I’ve created
2012 FBYC Opening Day
Got the sailing season off to a great start on Saturday with the Opening Day Regatta at Fishing Bay Yacht Club sailing aboard the C&C37 Wavelength. We did one 12.5 mile race out around the channel buoys to the entrance of the Rappahannock River and back. We did some great sailing which included a spinnaker peel and managed to finish 2nd in some very close racing – only 36 seconds separated the top 4 boats on corrected time. Results and Pictures.
Grace & Adrien’s Wedding
Here’s the video from Grace & Adrien’s wedding back at the end of February. The end shows a bit how this image was created.
Ants on a Boat
Getting my Laser ready for the spring and I’ve found that an ant colony has taken up residence on it.
Running the 2012 Monument Ave 10k
After standing on the sidelines for 3 years cheering on friends and family I finally joined the 30,000 people who signed up and ran the Monument Avenue 10k. Here’s my time and some pictures of running in the rain.
Here I am running the 2012 Ukrops Monument Avenue 10k Presented by Martins.
Annapolis Laser Fleet 10 Frostbite Video
On March 4 I shot this film in Annapolis with the Severn Sailing Association Laser Fleet. I was on the committee boat with a camera and then we had 5 GoPro cameras on various boats getting footage. Thanks to Dorian, Luke, Eric, Carlos, Reid and Bob for helping out!
GoPro Mast Mount
This GoPro mast mount should work for all mast sizes from a Laser on up. It was modeled after a mount seen on Layline’s website. On a Laser the mount can be used to film what’s ahead, or by putting it to the side and using some extenders can point backwards towards the cockpit. Obviously the mast rotation will result in some less than ideal shooting angles some of the time.
I used an Easy on/off bracket mast mount, but instead of using a stick-on or tripod mount, I drilled out the bracket part of a helmet mount and used two stainless steel bolts to attach it. The other solutions are probably sufficient, but I wanted something that would be bullet proof as I see myself mounting this in some places that I couldn’t exactly get to in a pinch if something went wrong.
 Mounted on a Laser mast pointed forward |
 View pointed forward |
Parts Needed:
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Tools Needed:
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Easy on/off bracket and GoPro Helmet Mount with an extra hole drilled in the v-mount for the mount.
GoPro Helmet mount mounted to the easy on/off bracket.
From the back showing the screws cut to the proper length with a hack saw so they didn’t protrude toward the mast any further.
*I used two 36″ Velcro straps which might be overkill for a Laser mast, but I actually found it to work quite well and be very secure.
Finished bracket mounted on a Laser mast with Velcro straps which were wrapped around the mast 3-4 times.
Adding Events to the NA Laser Class Calendar Video
I recently made this video to help get more events added to the http://laser.org calendar.
GoPro Panoramic Mount
A recent project of mine was to use a simple kitchen timer to build a GoPro Camera panoramic time-lapse mount. This basically lets the camera spin 360 degrees to evenly film the surrounding area. Either periodic stills can be taken or video can be recorded that can later be sped up into a time lapse.
I started with a basic kitchen timer. It’s best to find one that doesn’t have a dial on it. There are numerous egg-shaped timers that seem to work best for it. Stores like Bed Bath & Beyond or Walmart should have them. The first one I found happened to be shaped as a lady bug and cost something like $3.99. The GoPro tripod mount is $8 so with the nut and washers the total was less than $13 to make.
Parts Needed:
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Tools Needed:
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I took the red top off the timer by simple pulling it apart with my hands.
Next I drilled a hole slightly off-center.
Followed by threading the bolt with the washer on it up from the inside.
On the outside I put an upside down finishing washer. This isn’t a must do, but I think it made a better fit for the tripod mount.
Finally the tripod mount was added. The needle-nose pliers were used to turn the bolt from the inside while holding the tripod mount straight by hand.
Complete assembly from the front and side:
Gallery of images:
No ladybugs were harmed in the making of this mount.
Nikon D7000 Pelican Case
I’m planning on doing a lot of sailing this summer and when I’m on bigger boats than my Laser I want to be able to have my Nikon D7000 DSLR close at hand. I can’t use the camera while I’m actually sailing, but there will be plenty of downtime while aboard when there is no splashing and I could easily pull the camera out if it were handy. I plan to use the camera for both stills and video so I’ll need to have extra batteries and a Sennheiser MKE400 Shotgun Microphone. To make this work, I need:
- A hard case that would absolutely protect the camera no matter what was thrown on top of it
- A waterproof case that could take some splashes, rain or even a little water over the bow
- A case that is as small and light as possible to save weight and space
- A case with a handle so it could be tied into the boat or tethered in place
I found the Pelican Storm iM2075 for $45 that was just the right size for Nikon D7000 and a 17-55mm lens without the grip or my side-plate mounted microphone holder. It’ll fit the camera with the lens hood, plus the microphone, 3 EN-EL15 batteries and a couple of AAA batteries for the microphone.
Completed case with camera and accessories in place:
Basic case with foam:
The case comes with two pieces of foam blocks. I cut one of them roughly in half to form the bottom of the case that the camera will rest on.
Used toothpicks to plot the size of the camera on the foam on the uncut block foam:
Remove the 1cm x 1cm foam squares for a custom fit around the camera:
Put 1/2 of the foam in the bottom of the case, and then cut 2 of the 1cm blocks at half of their height so that the AAA batteries are sitting on foam and not the bottom of the case where they’ll clank and make noise:
Put the customized piece of foam over the flat piece of foam and put the Camera and batteries in place:
I then added the strap to the camera and placed the Sennheiser mic alongside the camera:
