Video: Escaping The Nuking Coastal Winds

My brother came out to California from Maine again to visit and do some sailing. But of course as soon as he arrived, a window of very strong northwest winds from the Eastern Pacific high set up on the coast. So we had to escape inland to avoid the 30-40 mph coastal marine forecast.

We went to Benicia on the Sacramento River/San Pablo Bay area and had some nice sailing. Meanwhile, as suspected, it did nuke on the coast. Below is the wind sensor data from that day where we had wanted to sail at Tomales Bay. Note the gusts to nearly 40. And this sensor is actually sheltered some from the winds! Good thing we went to Benicia.



Anyway, the footage is Laser and Sunfish. And I did the video for my brother so it's kind of long. But I thought you all might want some entertainment. Here's the video.

Cheers,

- Andy

I always enjoy watching your escapades Andy.
How was that camera attached to the edge of your boat?

Capn' Mick said:

I always enjoy watching your escapades Andy.
How was that camera attached to the edge of your boat?

Click to expand...

Hi Capn' Mick,

It's called, a "GoPro Jam Clamp Mount". Got it at Amazon.

I got it after watching footage of a friend who sails his Laser in my area. I really like it. It takes a bit to figure out how to point the camera where you want though. See details below. The clamp holds on to the gunnel of the Laser really well and it didn't even become detached when I capsized. You can put it anywhere along the entire gunnel of the boat.

A couple of things about the device. I had to shim the "female" parts with a bit of clear packing tape where the "male" parts clip in to because there was slop at those joints. That took care of the slop problem.

And the adjustable neck doesn't easily swivel when you want to point it in a new direction. But after spraying the neck with some silicon and figuring out how to get the neck to turn, that problem went away.

The trick to turning the neck is to grab the top of the neck with the camera with one hand, the bottom area with your other hand and twist. This makes the middle area of the neck rotate and that's how you adjust where the camera is pointing.

Cheers,

- Andy

I always enjoy your videos!