the GoPro

I have received several questions and comments about the photograph "the gust" and also the video in the last post.  They were both shot with a GoPro Hero3+ (which seems like a long name for a very little camera).  (That camera is already out of date, there is now a series of Hero4 cameras ranging in price for $200 to $500.)  

For me the biggest advantage of the Hero3 and later versions is the ability to control the camera from an iPhone app.  I can see what the camera is shooting, change from single frame to interval shooting to video, review files and download images all from my phone.  It is pretty amazing.  Below is a screen shot of the GoPro Album on my phone, all of the images sent from the camera to phone via the GoPro's wifi signal.

I'm also finding that one more advantage to sailing a yawl is that are lots of places to mount the GoPro.  Most commonly I fix it in place using a mount with a velcro strap (plus a safety lanyard with a clip - don't need anymore cameras going for a swim).  I have placed the camera on the boom, the bow sprit, the mizzen mast (the camera was at the top of the mizzen mast for the video in the last post), at the top of the gaff (see photo at the bottom) and, for the gust photo, on the mizzen boom. 

One technique I have used, particularly when mounting it on a boom, is to attach the velcro strap loosely around the boom.  As the boat heels the weight of the camera causes the camera to "self-level" and keep a flat horizon.  That has worked well for me, particularly on the photo above from Cox Creek on Kent Island.  It did not work so well the other day shooting the gust, it was just too gusty and bouncy as you can see in the video, but nonetheless I got a decent, though not level, photograph.  (In the middle of the video, with a double reefed main, we were making 5.5 knots.)

Anyway, it's kind of fun now and then to fool around with the camera and see what I get.  Not so much interested in photographs of myself, but I do like to see the wind filling Spartina's sails.