Video - Flying Solo on the 18

Went out to the Texas City Dike this past Saturday; pretty good turnout with about a dozen cats. Winds were unfortunately pretty light (5-10) so I took the 18 out for a few solo runs. I'm sure this is probably old hat for most of you but I was pretty excited (and nervous) to be out there single handing for the first time. Turned out to be a total blast and a great learning experience.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WmduX_5OGHY&hd=1[/youtube]

Nice!! That must be a real thrill flying off the wings. And that's a clean-looking 18 you have there. Did you paint the wing frames and crossbars? Very nice.

Thanks! The previous owner had the boat sitting up for 2 years before I bought it and in that time he went through and painted a few parts including the wing frames and crossbars.

Also, nice sails Brian - I've got the same pattern

Great video! Trapping off the wings looks like so much fun!

Hey, What camera were you using? I'm trying to decine between a Hero or Fujifilm XP10.

Nope, it's still not old for me. Good going.

I'm using the Kodak Playsport (plus a detachable fisheye lens) with a few different RAM mounts. Also modified a GOPRO head mount to work with it as well. The Playsport has been really great so far..

when you have the hot stick all the way extended like that how do you handle it during the tack?

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Aaron
1981 Hobie 18
Fleet 250

How did you mount the camera, is it a go pro you are using. I have a mount at the front of each of my hulls but would love to have one on the middle.

Marty
Hobie 18sx

Since I had quite a bit to handle when it came time to tack I would come down to the tramp then just throw the stick back and let it drag in the water. Once I was tacked around and ready to get back out I would pull it back up. Made it one less thing to worry about and I didn't have to shorten it before or re-extend it after the tack.


I'll try to get a photo of the mount later but I'm using a Kodak Playsport, which only has a 1/4"-20 thread to work with. I am using RAM mounts for all the mounting. Some of my videos I shot with a RAM suction cup mount on the front of the hull but for this I removed the metal mount for my Windex from the front of the furler then attached a U-bolt to the piece of rubber/plastic the windex mount was screwed into. From there I used a RAM arm to hang the camera down between the bridles (upside down) and then flipped the video on the computer.

IF YOU COULD GET ME A PICTURE OF IT, THAT WOULD BE GREAT, i WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO HANG IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FURLER, i HAVE MADE ONE GREAT 3 1/2 MIN VIDEO FROM THE HULL.

MARTY