Posts containing containing GoPro footage and photos.
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.
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 |
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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.
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.
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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.
A run in Pony Pasture Park in Richmond, Virginia on an unseasonably warm January afternoon. It was a chance to test out some new camera equipment.
Last Sunday for the Offshore Spring Series #4 at FBYC I sailed aboard Wavelength and brought along Lauren and Patrick for the ride. We mounted the GoPro camera to the spreaders and here’s a couple of photos from that. I’ll put together a video in a few weeks.
Saturday was my first time back to Deltaville since the Tornado came through last weekend. I was surprised to see how much had already been cleaned up and put back together. With last weeks racing cancelled, this was the first day of offshore sailing and I was aboard Wavelength. It was a bit cloudy, but warm and we saw 15 knots with gusts to 30. It was a bit wild at times with the kite up in winds over 25.
Here’s some video of the damage and some highlights from FBYC’s Offshore Spring Series #2.
This video clip from a day of practice on Saturday aboard Wavelength – a 37′ C&C sailed out of Fishing Bay Yacht Club. About halfway through the video are some clips when a squall came through with gusts of 28knots and hail.
I used Sunday’s Laser frostbite as an opportunity to get some of the cobwebs out. Last weeks’ frostbite at Hampton was good for getting the boat together, but with little wind, wasn’t much of an opportunity to do the kind of sailing I’ll be doing at Midwinters in Clearwater Florida in a little over a week.
The temperature on Sunday in Annapolis was in the high 40’s and low 50’s with winds 13-16 knots, overcast skies and a water temperature of 38 degrees. Generally it was good sailing in wind that I had to hike in and I got some of the feeling back in how to sail the boat and make it go. With boat handling being my priority, results of the 4 races I sailed in were secondary and the scoreboard was not friendly – finishing 15 out of 17 boats on the line including two DFLs.
All in all it was a good day on the water and I’m glad to have gotten that past me now rather than on the first day of the regatta. This was also an opportunity for me to practice filming with the GoPro. I had gotten several mounting locations set up and today I mounted the camera to the bow. Check out the video:
Edit: A more comprehensive list of GoPro mounts and mounting locations for a Laser can be found here.
Saturday I got my boat ready for Frostbiting on Sunday and ultimately for Midwinters in a little over a week. I also put together some mounts for the GoPro camera. I had already mounted the camera to the compass mount that yielded this video from last weekend.
Pictured above is the GoPro mounted to the compass bracket just in front of the compass. This works because most of the time when I’m using the compass I’m hiked out and thus looking at the side markings on the compass. The few times when I actually want to look at the compass head on are usually when I’m checking the wind when I’m not looking and it’s easy enough to just look over the camera.
This picture is of the GoPro mounted to the Laser mast just below the goose neck facing aft on the port side of the boat. The ‘roll cage’ bracket is the right width, but the screws that come with it aren’t long enough to fit the width of the mast. A quick trip to the the hardware store for some longer screws and nuts fixed that.
To mount the camera to the bow I drilled a hole in the top of the bow eye and took one of the GoPro tripod mounts and used a bolt from underneath the bow eye to secure it. Pictured is are both the short and tall versions of the setup. The taller version gives a better perspective back to the cockpit, but being taller, it might vibrate a little more. I also plan to wrap both in tape to be sure nothing gets caught on them.
These photos show the clamp mount I made to fix the camera to the top of the mast. I used another tripod mount and bolted it to a hole I made on the side of the clamp. This mount could be used at the top of the mast, the aft end of the boom, or even on the rudder head during training.
The final location I mounted the camera to is the dolly. Normally the dolly rides upside down on top of the boat, so by mounting the camera to the side of it I can video scenes on the way to regattas to help frame the location. When the boat is on the dolly the mount can also be used to film while moving the boat around.
Made a trip to the ODU sailing center on Sunday to Frostbite with the Hampton Roads Laser Fleet. This was the first of two frostbite outings to tune up for the Laser Midwinters East Regatta in Clearwater Florida in a couple weeks.
The day was fraught with very little wind and thus we were only able to get in two short races before calling it a day. The video below shows just how light it was. This was also my first experiment mounting the GoPro camera to the Laser. It turned out pretty well and I can’t wait to try another mounting location next week when I’m frostbiting up at SSA in Annapolis.