Category: Video

Any posts that contain videos that I’ve created

We had 4 boats at FBYC for the ILCA Spring Regatta on a cool and overcast day. Mike C, Mike M, Todd and myself went out for 5 races alongside a couple Melges 15s. The Flying Scots elected not to sail. Out on the race we had a steady 13-14 knots with some white caps.

In the first race Mike C, Mike M and I all dragged race out to the left. I went a little further left and got some breeze wrapping around Stove Point and almost overstood the mark. I was just ahead of them as we went downwind, but I was able to keep a loose cover on both of them just behind me to finish first.

Race 2 was windy and shifty out of the east at times. The wind had gone a little more left which meant we were a little more sheltered behind Stove Point. I again played the middle left of the course and was able to stay just ahead of Mike C and Mike M.

Race 3 didn’t go as well – I was about to be leading at the top mark, but I missed the cleat after a tack and let the sail out while I was hiking and plunged the boat over me to weather while the other boats sailed by me. I caught up 1 boat to put me in 3rd, but I was never able to catch up to Mike C and Mike M to finish that way.

The 4th race saw a shift to the left, I went down to the pin at the start and almost laid the weather mark with a comfortable lead and finished that way.

For the 5th and final race of the day I knew I had to finish 3rd or better to win first overall. Mike C was ahead as we approached the weather mark and I flubbed the tack allowing Mike M to get by me as well. On the second upwind Mike M would struggle around the weather mark allowing me to sail by him to a 2nd place finish.

All in all it was a really fund day of sailing in a solid breeze and mixing it up with Mike C and Mike M in some close racing. Thanks to the Race Committee for running the race for us and we’ll be back for the Summer Regatta in August.

EVENT WEBSITE | PICTURES | RESULTS | VIDEO

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Served as the race committee for the first one design event of the year at FBYC. Ended up with a beautiful day for the Flying Scots and Melges 15. I also got to try out a new insta360 X4 camera.

Got 4 races before the wind died on us.

Thanks to Mason Chapman, Laurie Pierce, Jess Deutsch, John Koedell, Todd Blekicki and Frank Murphy for helping on RC.

EVENT WEBSITE | PHOTOS | VIDEO

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As was the case in 2022, the club was short a PRO for the first spring series of the year and so I stepped in last minute to be the PRO. We had a small but mighty team and gave the racers the best we could given the weather, volunteers and equipment we had available.

PHRF-BC start with GOIN’ and Mad Hatter

While it wasn’t windy by windy standards- the conditions were still cool, the wind was up and the waves were a bit lumpy from this direction. We were able to set up a 1.5nm weather leg and ran two races for both fleets on that course. The cruising class intended to do a triangle derivative of this, but through some miscommunication to the RC, we sent them on a triangle that was way beyond what they were intending and weren’t finishing even the first lap of that until almost after the other fleets had done two laps and started their next race.

Paula and Jon doing flags at the back of the boat while Cathy calls time.

Thanks to Paula, Cathy, Mary and Paul for their help on RC.

This was also my first chance to try out a new insta360 X4 and here’s the 360 video in 8k of driving the boat out of the Jackson Creek Channel.

VIDEO | PICTURES | RESULTS | EVENT WEBSITE

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This weekend the Battle Rhythm crew joined the Race Committee for the Opening Day race. The 3 fleets did a middle distance race out into the Chesapeake Bay and back. The wind was light and took about 3 hours to do the ~15nm. We had a 4-6 knot breeze in the Piankatank the entire time. The boats out in the bay saw much less than that at times and many of them abandoned when the current started taking them faster than the wind.

Being on Race Committee this was a perfect opportunity to get some video of the boats and try out a borrowed 360 camera.

VIDEO | PICTURES | EVENT WEBSITE

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We got two days of racing at the Capital City Regatta at Potomac River Sailing Association in cool conditions with plenty of wind on Saturday and not enough at times on Sunday. 9 races were sailed and James Jacob emerged as the regatta winner having won all but one race in the series in the 17 boat fleet.

Saturday saw winds in the mid-teens with gusts into the 20’s and temperatures in the mid-50’s making for a cold day. With 11 boats on the course we started a little south of the club on the Potomac River which had a lot of current that would rip down the course all day.

In the first 2 races I started slow with a bad start, but salvaged a 5th and in the second race I had a great start and stuck with the leaders to find myself in 3rd. While I was out of practice hiking, I did keep the boat moving well most of the time.  With the triangle course we had two broad reaches rather than downwind.

When it came to the 3rd race – I had a good start and was just behind James on the reaches. I passed him on the 2nd reach and shortly after turning to go upwind and was leading the race when I put the main sheet in the cleat to adjust the vang.  When I went to pull on the vang, the tail of it had been wrapped around the main sheet cleat and was underneath the cleated sheet.  As I grabbed the vang the tail lifted up popping the sheet out of the cleat (video). The main instantly went out and I immediately flipped over backward. After a few tries I was back in the boat, but definitely going to be too cold and called it a day and missed the rest of the race and the next one.

Sunday saw some lighter conditions and slightly warmer temperatures with now 17 boats out on the course. The current was still ripping down the course just as much as it was yesterday making it a challenge of knowing when to go right and into it and when to go left and avoid it.  In 4 out of 5 of the races I had decent starts and sailed with the leaders anywhere from 2 to sixth place.

In the 4th race I thought we were going to get a wind shift and I could port tack the fleet.  The shift didn’t come and Tyler defended it perfectly and after I parked it behind the line, I had to let everyone go. When I finally got started the wind did shift and it was a largely a parade with very few passing lanes.

By 2 o’clock w had sailed 5 races and the wind was getting really patchy at time making it almost impossible to made headway against the current and we headed in.

Thanks to Nabeel and the RC for getting as many races as we could get in over 2 days and thanks to all of the other PRSA volunteers for the food and everything else they did to make this possible. Congrats to James, Patrick and Thomas on a well-sailed event and their podium finishes.

PICTURES | RESULTS | EVENT WEBSITE | VIDEO

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Video No Comments Tagged with , , , , , ,

Every time I come back to crewing on big boats I’m always feeling like I have to re-familiarize myself with the electronics and some of the basic operations we use all of the time. I think that’s true of many others and so here is is a quick video reference on how to use the instruments with the functions we normally use. Here is a playlist of the videos or the can be viewed individually below.

They cover:

Setting a Starting Line on the B&G H5000

Starting the mast instrument timer on the Garmin GNX120

Starting the Race Timer on the B&G Triton 2

Setting a Route and Track on the B&G Zeus 9

Marking a Man Overboard

Basic ICOM IC 424G Radio Operation

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For this sailing season I wanted to add another modern action camera to my arsenal. In reviewing all of the cameras out there – the battery life left some to be desired in the cameras on the market with the best features. While the image quality, usability, mounting, and other features are important to me, none of that really matters if the camera has run out of battery. On a sailboat, oftentimes I can’t easily swap out a battery – either because when we’re on a big boat I’ve got a job to do in the middle of a race and can’t easily get away to get a new battery and swap it into the camera, or on a small boat – I simply don’t have any space to take a spare battery or even keep it dry.

Reviewing all of the specs and reviews online I settled on the Insta360 Ace Pro (buy on Amazon). On paper it got 10 minutes more battery life (100 minutes) compared to the latest GoPro Hero 12 (90 minutes). But the Insta360 Ace Pro hadn’t been on the market very long and none of the reviews really mentioned the battery life other than in passing. I bought the camera and still wanted to settle the question – how long can I expect the battery to last? I had also seen some after-market batteries becoming available and wondered how those compared to the Insta360 batteries.

So I set up some tests for 14 different batteries from 7 different retailers for over 268 hours to answer those questions and I wanted to share my findings.

How Long Does the Insta360 Ace Pro Battery Last?

On average across all of the batteries tested, the camera filmed for 97.7 minutes – just shy of the 100 minutes advertised. In only 29% of the tests did the camera film for more than 100 minutes. The Insta360 batteries average 92.2 minutes and hit the 100 minute mark just 15% of the time. While the other 6 brands of batteries tested average 98.8 minutes and hit 100 minutes 33% of the time.

Which Battery Lasted the Longest?

There were 2 batteries of the 7 brands tested that hit the 100 minute mark significantly more than the other batteries test. While that looks like a big difference on paper, the real difference is only around 4 minutes of film time. The NBZZ and REYTRIC batteries lasted much longer than any of the other batteries tested by 4-6 minutes.

Insta360 Ace Pro % of Battery Tests Over 100 Minutes

Here’s the average runtime for the different brands:

Insta360 Ace Pro Average Battery Duration

And here you can see the individual performance of each of the batteries. Note the range between the minimum and maximum tests along wit the average. The Insta360 batteries are on the far right and far left.

Insta360 Ace Pro Battery Test

The Batteries

  1. REYTRIC Upgraded 2-Pack Batteries with 3-Channel USB Charger
  2. NBZZ 2 Batteries Pack with Dual Fast Charge Hub
  3. Topwowe 2 Packs Batteries with Dual Fast Charge Hub
  4. Insta360 Ace/Ace Pro Battery
  5. Burflo Battery
  6. DONGNI 2 Pack Ace Pro Battery
  7. Rszfnjxry Batteries(2 Pack) with Fast Charge Hub

How did I test?

Using the settings I’d most likely be using for sailing – 4k 30 fps with horizon leveling and HDR on – I set the camera up in my living room to look at my backyard until it ran out of battery. I did this at least 11 times for each battery to get the data. All of the batteries were charged using the same 3-battery charger and the Ace Pro firmware was 1.0.27.

To see my videos created with the Insta360 Ace Pro – check out No Quarter Sailing on YouTube.

If you are interested in the battery life of the Insta360 X4 – check out a similar test I did for that camera.

Disclaimers: I purchased the camera and some of the batteries myself. Other batteries were received through the Amazon Vine Voices Program. As an affiliate in Amazon’s program I may receive a commission for product links.

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Tuesday/Wednesday

We had an easy trip down to Florida splitting it up into two days and arriving Wednesday evening with a stop in South Carolina.

Ready for 4 days of what looks to be light-air sailing in St. Petersburg in a 41-boat ILCA 7 fleet.

Thursday

We don’t have a great prospect for wind in the next couple days, but there was 6-7 knots in the morning so we went out relatively on time. After a short postponement on the water they got the ILCA 7 fleet racing.

I had good start at the boat and made my way middle right. The left ended up paying even better, and I was mid-fleet at the top mark. The next leg was a reach and the wind started to drop a bit. We went downwind and then on the second upwind I went right and made up a few boats. I lost a couple downwind and managed to finish 26th.

The 4.7’s also got a race in and the 6 fleets were all abandoned in their races. We stayed out on the water for another hour and a half and with no wind they sent us in to postpone on short. A nice sea breeze filled around 4, but it was too little too late and racing was called for the day.

Friday

Another day without a great prospect for wind at the 2024 ILCA Midwinters in St. Petersburg. The RC was expecting a sea breeze to fill later in the afternoon so they postponed us on shore for a couple of hours with the plan to tow us 4-5 miles south where we’d likely find a sooner and stronger sea breeze.

We floated around for almost 2 hours with no sign of a sea breeze. Eventually they called it and towed us the 5 miles back in with no racing at all.

Saturday

Saturday was a repeat of Friday but with a little more wind. The RC again postponed us on shore until noon and then towed us to the race area 5 miles south. When we got there, we found enough light air to run a race and all of the fleets were started.

We had a light air race and the wind eased as we were raced. I didn’t have a great start and had a little trouble getting a clear lane, but once I did I stayed in it as long as I could up the middle of the course and rounded in top 15 with a nice gap behind me. I only lost a boat on the downwind and upwind and they shortened the course at the end of the reach to the outer course. Once the U-flags were processed I was given a 14th for the race.

With the wind dead, we stayed out on the course for an hour and a half hoping the sea breeze would fill. It eventually did very late in the day and given that the seven fleet had 2 races already and none of the other fleets did, they all got starts and there wasn’t enough time to sail us and we were sent in.

I got a fast tow in. Jess and I got to see St. Petersburg and went out to dinner on Central Ave.

Sunday

Sunday saw a line of strong storms rolling in during the morning and racing was postponed. It cleared in the afternoon with enough time to sail 2 races in windy conditions. We elected instead to do some tourist stuff in town and get an early start on the ride home.

Thanks to St. Petersburg Yacht Club for hosting the event. Check out the video here.

VIDEO | PHOTOS | RESULTS | EVENT WEBSITE

By Posted on Posted in ILCA Sailing, Life, No Quarter Sailing, Video No Comments Tagged with , , , , , , ,

I recently digitized some old Laser Masters footage from the 2000 US Laser Masters. I was aboard the Judge boat for most of the event recoding on a Sony Hi-8 camera. It had been a while since I had seen this footage and it was great to be able to reminisce and remember the sailors who were there at the time and what Fishing Bay Yacht Club looked like with the old clubhouse.

As I processed the footage and spliced this together, I was amazed at the improvements to the software to be able to stabilize what was pretty shaky video at the time as well as the ability to clean up some of the audio.

I was also many years from being a master and yet I’m now older than many of the masters-age sailors at the time. Ooof. 

Check out the video and the event results can be seen here.

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The second day of the FBYC Fall Open featured a distance race to mark located in the Chesapeake Bay just off Gwynn’s Island called 41a but otherwise known to FBYC Sailors as L. The course was an out and back following the same path back to the finish. 

In our fleet were 5  boats – Sting, Corryvreckan, Afterthought, Nanuq an Arcona 46 and us on J99 Battle Rhythm.  Aboard were Todd, Len, Ron, Anne and Jon.

We started in the mouth of the Piankatank and sailed out into the Bay on a close reach. Around us were the J109 Afterthought and the J105 Corryvreckan. Winds were 12 – 14 and we were sailing with the jib and full main. After rounding one of the entrance marks to the Piankatank we headed south on a broad reach down the bay. 

We arrived at Chesapeake 41a otherwise known as FBYC-L just off the southern end of Gwynns Island.  At the southern mark, we doused the spinnaker and came back upwind along the same course we had taken out there.  The wind had backed to the north north west making this an even more upwind slog back.

We took a few tacks inshore towards Gwynns island to stay out of the current.  Once we were back in the Piankatank we close reached to the finish just off Stove Point.

After the handicaps were calculated our race was good enough for 2nd place beating the J109 by just under a minute on corrected time though we were still 5 minutes behind the Acrona.

PICTURES | VIDEO | RESULTS

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