Video thread

Sarzelopez, few nice waves in this clip from awhile back now. That last wave smashed the camera into the deck which I only fixed just before coming ashore.

vimeo.com/462040055

Also Steve Hansen just read and replied to message you sent 2019 - gasp! - sorry missed by thaaaaaat much.. 

Nice one Watto. You're dominating out there!
Beautiful conditions which have been a bit harder to come by this Summer in Perth. Short, steep and messy last few days and challenging for me to position correctly on the wave but still fun and always learning I hope.
Which NK do you have? Is that the Storm? I'd like to know what length it is and how that works in our local conditions. Sometimes the Swordy feels a bit long but the main problem is just skill and whatever the conditions may be on the day.
Really enjoyed your trip through the Narrows and Wild Saturday videos on Vimeo too, Great action and great music.

Those wave look cleeaan, very nice. Where is this? Australia?



Here's a vid of some of this week's sessions. 

At the 3:20 mark I filmed some friends on V1, with the camera pointing directly at them. 
 
The voice over ends at the 8:00 mark. 

After that there's a clip of a lancha (skiff?) wake saving me from the upwind section of Friday's session. 

I have to admit I wasn't feeling super motivated that day having paddled all 4 days before, but it definitely was one of the best sessions of the week. 

We are still in full lock down during the weekends so cramming the 5 paddles on weekdays is pretty much the only option.  That means no trips to real downwind conditions and no chance of doing more than 15k before work:(

Those wave look cleeaan, very nice. Where is this? Australia?

Yes Perth, Sarzlopez. As CrabStick points out in the post above yours, this summer has seen fewer decent downwind pickings than normal, a few good blows but uncharacteristically quieter. Most summers guaranteed a good downwinder 3 or 4 times a week at least. Our coastline runs north-south pretty much, winds (we call it the Fremantle Doctor - soothing breeze in the afternoon cooling down our 30-40 degree summer days) either SW, SSW or for great runs directly from the south. Swells typically SW though again if it's been blowing SSW or South, then runs just over left shoulder. Stormy days typically winter it blows NW or West so pretty shitty paddling. 

CrabStick:
Which NK do you have? Is that the Storm?

Lucky me just retired so spent some long-service leave pennies updating my toys - now have Squall 580 Carbon X in the grey and Storm 610 Carbonlite, both boats under 9.5kgs. Most of my paddling has been in the Squall though in some videos the Storm. Just checked Vimeo clips - the Dutchies downwinder is the Squall and the Narrows paddle the Storm (has a katana sticker). Some of the other Vimeo videos are Stellar SES (white) and SR (yellow/white).

My mate paddles a Squall 58 (previous model) which is around 11kgs so most of time I just paddle the Squall. Haven't paddled a lot this summer as busted a few ribs end of last year coming off bicycle and took awhile to heal however Squall my go-to boat. Not quite as quick as a Swordfish I reckon, not much in it, however super stable, very manoeuvrable all time big water boat just bring it on!! Put a big DK rudder on my Storm so though a bit twitchier than a Swordfish with standard rudder, the DK I reckon evens it up stability wise. Storm is more manoeuvrable and faster than the Swordfish paddled by same person I reckon. Also an absolute piece of cake for re-entry. Never been a great fan of Fenns for that reason with their sword edged gunnels and deeper bucket! Same with Elite S which is beautiful to paddle but I struggle to re-enter compared to all Stellars (and I include the SES v2) and Squall/Storm NK's. Paddled in low 20 knots not issues with the Storm, next blow over 25 knots I'll give it a crack. I definitely notice the difference between Squall and Storm in sloppy choppy stuff however, Hillary's Marina on a blowy lumpy day doing ins and outs with rebound off the Marina wall I find testing in the Storm but no probs in the Squall. 

Storm very agile too especially with the bigger rudder. You can jump onto something steep without a great deal of speed and are less likely to broach than with the standard rudder. Bottom line is what's repeated in this forum, stability comes first. Fighting the boat just to stay upright a waste of physical and nervous energy. Yes the skinnier boat (Storm in my case) is faster however there's literally a tipping point. Luxury having the two boats means I can choose however even though I push my luck sometimes (too far), when it's really pumping 30-35 knots plus, blowing South or SSW I know what I'll be paddling.

I was able to to do some runs on the Atlantic side Friday and Saturday. This is a piece from today, the last 1.4km

This one felt a thousand time better than the first one.

I might upload some long sections with the voice over, this video is from when I could see the exit point, line it up and just go. 

Most of the run I had to catch the big ones and bail to my right to stay on a good line. 

I might get a downwind rudder for this conditions, definitely less control compared to the pacific side with the standard one. 

Finished the longer VID, I'll leave it here to avoid double posting

Big wind event last week.  It was blasting this day, a bit offshore.  I train specifically for these conditions at Maliko - surfing left with the wind in my ear.  I do the training part in smaller conditions so that this stuff won't freak me out.  It's very easy to get blown out and miss the harbor entrance.    It was a steady 35mph, gusting to 50.  No north swell to cross things up.  Seas probably 10 feet or so, maybe 12.  I was with a relatively inexperienced oc-1 guy, he did extremely well keeping his cool.  Not a surprise to me, he windsurfs 60' faces at Jaws, so big wind and water is not going to freak him out.  He was in an Ares Pro, zooming right along.  3 hulies, so he got some adrenaline going.  Super fun day.          

What beautiful footage - worth watching on the laptop in HD to see all the texture on the water. Seems like the speed graph is not quite synched with the video - maybe a few seconds ahead? Anyway stunning stuff. I like the meditative music too. Thanks. 

Thanks Zach! glad you enjoyed it. 
 
Yes, the gopro 8 does nice work.  Particularly the anti shake, that was a total game changer. 
I prefer the "linear" option at 4k 60fps.  Linear view has the least 'fisheye,' therefore, the most realistic view of the actual size of the waves out front.   The tradeoff is the narrow width of the view out front.

The GPS speed data is synched automatically.  It is attached to the video files, by Gopro, via the GPS sensor in the cam.  Speeds often seem off when there is that much water moving around...  I was bobbing around like a rubber duck in a sloshing bathtub.  The video just can't capture it.  Imagine doing a run looking thru a pair of toilet paper tubes, that's kinda what the cam shows.  As you well know, our peripheral vision  is a huge part of the story. 

The gopro smoothing software is so powerful that if I take a quick look fully left or right, the gopro smoothed final product does not show it.  It appears to gently pan a bit left or right.  But it never reflects the rotation I actually turn my head...  Cool stuff.        

I used to synch my Garmin to my videos, but those days are over.  Garmin is a 1Hz sample rate anyhow, far less accurate than a Gopro's 18Hz.  You can see the missing signals in the gopro telemetry - those flat spots in the line.  Some days are better than others when it comes to satellite coverage. 

This site is what the helicopter RC guys use, they need good GPS.  www.uavforecast.com/

All those flat spots on the speed line may get better if I do a factory reset.  It's about time anyhow.  Gopro has another update for me.  Probably all social media telephone stuff, which I turn off, but I'll update the cam.     

Oh, and if you like that resolution, you should see what it looks like before my software and Youtube compresses it.  Highly recommended.  If the VR stuff gets less expensive and more user friendly, that's where I'm going next.      

Here is a clip from the next day.  The wind was less offshore, yet still very strong, with an excellent East swell running 10 or so feet.  Again, no north swell to cross things up.  Included is my Garmin path, on Google Earth, with the bathymetry of the north shore overlayed.  That blue outline is 5 fathoms (30 feet).  The clip begins in 120 feet of water and finishes in about 25.  The video illustrates how the wave shapes will change when you get close to the reef.  It can be dangerous inside the blue area.  The whitewater on top of the swells can get pretty knarly if you lose hull speed.  If hull speed goes to zero, the whitewater roiling thru can be fast enough to break a leash.  Many boats have been smashed shooting that reef on big days.  The big boys are strong enough and balanced enough to really zoom across those wave faces.    

The little red line to shore is one mile.  
Speed graph looks different than the day before.  I didn't change anything.  Looks like the Gopro GPS may be acting up, so I did a factory reset.  

Excellent conditions this day.  Largest windswells are going offshore a bit, so I'm focusing on sneaking into the smaller windswells heading back to shore.  They are hard to see in the video - but they are the key to holding enough momentum to get on the larger swell faces and surf to shore. 

Speed graph proves to me how to train across waves to conserve effort, maintain speed and learn transitions.    

Stable boats are fun downwind.  
  
Th V-9 and Gen 3 V-12 garnered rave reviews at Maliko yesterday.  Same old story.  More rocker, more stable.  No surprise they also had very fast times.  It's great to see the industry providing stable boats that zoom downwind.   
   

Thanks for posting these LPB. More beautiful conditions and it is so nicely visible how 2 waves ahead help to predict what is about to happen in front of you. Great wave intersections and so many options opening up in front of you, especially between approx 0.45 and 1.05 in the second clip. Very engaging to watch! Nice efficiency.

Cool videos. Where is the music from?

^ Music is from Youtube.  It's free, simple and an easy option included in the download process.  Music choice is extremely limited.  Copyright violations are a thing now, so I just use what is free, legal and easy.    

I don't use a video editor.  No text, joined clips etc.  I'm only interested in the speed graph and maybe a whale jump.  So, I record the entire run.   Then I drop it on a hard drive.  Racerender merges the Gopro raw video, telemetry and overlays the data into one big, long, video.  Then I may watch that as I'm stretching.  If it was a good day I'll pick out a clip.  Then maybe drop the clip into Youtube.  That's where the music can be tacked on.  Youtube makes it easy.  

I also record the run on a Garmin Instinct.  I set the display to one big number - elapsed time.  I start the watch and Gopro at the same time.  Then if a whale jumps, I just look at my watch and say "Wow, check the video at 37 minutes."  And there it is...
 

This is some unusual surfing. Going upstream on the Mississippi river through Lake Pepin on the Minnesota / Wisconsin Border. Ice has only been out a week so water is cold. This section of the river only gets a 4 or 5 mile fetch. If the wind is different then there is a section with 11 miles of fetch that can get really good. There are bluffs on either side of the river that channel the wind a bit. 

Very nice view of your elite ski steering around.  I always use Boyan as a reference for downwind steering, but I think your view is even better.

Up high like yours shows the wave shapes of different speeds.  You keep your boat back behind the best energy source.  Then you transition when it's efficient, easy, more fun and actually faster overall.  That's a tough thing to learn downwinding via writing, spoken word or even video.   It brings more clarity to the expression "relax and keep the nose going downhill."   

Thanks for posting that.  Is it a Gopro 360 Max up on the pole?  Looks like  you were panning right when walking the boats out. 

Thanks LPB. It is my friend's camera and home made mast. He just slapped it on my ski and gave me the camera afterwards so I could edit it. It is a MAX 360. The post is made of that corrugated plastic that political yard signs are made from. It's a 3 sided pyramid about 3 feet tall that gets taped to the boat. As far as the editing I have not edited a go pro film since I got bored with my hero 3 many years ago. The MAX was way easier to edit than the old go pro. I watched a 10 minute video tutorial and then it was pretty easy. I did the whole thing on my phone which was also really nice. As far as the angle I picked, I thought the more zoomed out shot conveys speed, angle, technique, and wave choice better than a tighter shot. The trade off is that the zoomed out view really flattens the waves. But when you see the way the water sprays off the paddle you can tell that it is fast. 

Nice angle..Reminds me of  an arcade game view point. Feel like I should have my hands on a joystick piloting you....