GoPro Hero 2 About To Go Wireless

Great news from GoPro at the CES in Las Vegas for us GoPro Hero 2 owners! The much anticipated Wi-Fi backpack will be released near the end of March and will be able to control up to 50 individual GoPro cameras at the same time for those serious gear heads! Honey..... I need another Hero 2!!

Why such a big deal?? If you are like me, your GoPro might be mounted on your kayak and the only way to access the controls is while you are not in the cockpit. This means that what ever mode (video, pictures etc.) you have selected at the start of your paddle that's it unless your paddling buddy triggers the controls for you or you exit your kayak either on a beach or (not recommended) performing a wet exit to change the camera options. :-)

I like the convenient wrist band remote which can be also be attached to your PFD or any other convenient location within reach while you are in the cockpit. Another great option is that you will be able to control your Hero 2 by your smartphone via the WiFi BacPac and stream video directly to the web. So in effect your GoPro Hero 2 can be used as a HD mobile web cam. One thing not mentioned in the video clip is that battery / memory usage should be more efficiently utilized resulting in less editing at the end of a day and more quality pictures  / video captured.

Price?? As mentioned in the video the Wi-Fi backpack combo will retail at $99 US so if you are like me that will run about $120 Canadian before taxes. Is it worth it? I think it is a must for any GoPro Hero 2 owner to fully take advantage of all of the options that this great little camera has to offer. 

Introductory Rescues

Saturday night Robyn and I spent the evening at the Crystal Pool in Victoria participating in the Ocean River Introductory Rescues course. Our main goal this evening was to learn how to self rescue ourselves with our new paddle floats in the event that we should capsize out in the elements.  Looking back to our first introductory course last October we sure have come a long way in terms of equipment and the number of times we have been on the water since then. This being our last introductory course in the series we felt very prepared for the course using our own boats and equipment.

After checking with our instructor (Janette) and the other 3 students in the class, I mounted our GoPro Hero 2 with the suction cup on the front decking of my kayak (tethered) with the lens pointed at my cockpit. I thought it would be a great opportunity to check out the video capabilities of the camera as well as capturing the underwater footage of my wet exits. Stopping and starting the camera a few times during the course I managed to get some really good video.

The video clip is 6:43 minutes long and I start my capsize at around the 2:00 minute mark. For you seasoned kayakers do you see what I did wrong in this wet exit?? Sure I got back in the kayak but watch what happens when I'm upside down. You know that handle which I call the "Holy Crap" handle? It works better if you actually pull it before trying to exit the kayak!  LOL

After using a trial version of Sony's Movie Studio HD Platinum 11 software, I purchased the full blown package this morning on line and downloaded it to my computer ready to use in less than 10 minutes. Isn't technology wonderful?? I'm not the greatest techno gearhead and it took me a bit to figure out how to "trim" a clip so that I could post it on the blog. Looks like I have a bit of research to do to really understand what this software can do for me. 

What a great way to capture our kayaking adventures

Two For Two And I Don't Know What Time It Is!

Sunday awoke with the promise to be much like Saturday's great day of sun and we loaded the kayaks for a quick trip to Cadboro Bay to meet up with the folks of Kayak Yak. For the past few months we have been following the blog entries of John, Louise and Paula and through Facebook we planned an outing with them from Gyro Park. We have paddled here once before and it is such a diverse location for either the beginner all the way up to the well seasoned tide race sea kayaker.

After the introductions we got our rides down to the sandy beach and met up with Paula who was already at the launch point site since she practically lives on the park. The plan was to head over to Chatham Island via Flower and Jemmy Jones Islands checking the conditions at each point to decide if Chatham was possible today.  

On our way to Flower Island we spotted a Sea Otter playing like a cat who had just woken up and was scratching his back on the logs. It was quite a sight to see him go through the morning stretch routine and he didn't mind us taking a few photos. What a great way to start the paddle!  

As we came to Flower Island we spotted a bald eagle sunning himself with his feathers ruffled by the winds.  The wind forecast for the day was 10 knots from the NE so we needed to be sure that the transit would be safe for our group. Heading round the island we started the transit to Jemmy Jones and noticed the winds had come up a fair bit more than predicted. Looking past Cadboro Point into Baynes Channel I could see the white caps ripping pretty good. Chatham was going to be out of the question for our group today so we headed back to Flower Island where the bald eagle had been joined by its mate. 

We decided to head up to the navigation light at Cadboro Point along the coastline. As we rounded the point we were slightly sheltered from the wind by the small islets but some of the choppy waves were making their way between them. Awesome!!! My first opportunity to play in some waves so I gradually paddled my way in between a couple islets and had a few minutes extending my comfort zone while trying to read the on coming waves. Pretty cool!

Heading back to Gyro Park we explored the nooks and crannies of the coastline and then made our landing back where the day began. We joined John and Louise at the local coffee shop and enjoyed a warm beverage in the sunshine while learning a bit more about each other. It was then time to head home and wash down our rides but ........ I discovered upon arriving at home that I lost my economical waterproof sports watch somewhere at Gyro Park. I seem to have problems with watches and the ocean as this watch was the one that I bought in the Caribbean when my Timex Expedition disappeared while I was body surfing (I call it that). Good thing that I didn't have my expensive Blue Angels Eco-Drive on today!   

One Of Two Spring Days

Heading into the weekend we knew that it was going to be a couple of great days of kayaking with the amazing spring forecast of warm sunshine and light winds. After not getting on the water during the month of January we were eager to take part in our first South Island Sea Kayaking Association (SISKA) Relaxed Paddle on Saturday. The group of 29 paddlers met up at Amherst Beach for a 09:30 briefing to discuss the plan for the day and identify the pace setter, port and starboard guides and our paddle leader Jennie following in behind to keep the group together while on the water. 

We were really impressed with the planning for the day and with such a large number of kayaks it was really important to keep together while crossing some of the potentially busy channels. This was done with VHF radios and so it was my first chance to try our ICOM IC-M72  radio and listen to the group leaders communicate to each other along the way.

This was also my first opportunity to try out my GoPro Hero 2 camera which I mounted on my deck bag for easy access and to view the pictures being captured. For this trip I set the camera to take a 11mp picture automatically every 5 seconds and let it do its thing while I focused on keeping pace with the group. Over all I took 1,075 pictures during the 4 hour trip stopping and starting the camera along the way to preserve battery and SD card space.

One of the many pictures taken by the GoPro Hero 2. Amazing quality for such a small camera!

After rounding the north end of Goudge Island we headed south through a small gap between Johnson and Fernie Islands and learned that this was a favourite transit of our group leader Jennie. So from this point on we will probably just call it "Jennie's Gap" when paddling through it.

Entering "Jennie's Gap"... a pretty special place to visit.

Stopping for lunch in Teaseum Harbour it was a pretty cool sight to see all of our rides beached while we enjoyed lunch in the sunshine. It was was great to meet so many people that have the same passion for kayaking.

Can you count all the kayaks?? 29 happy paddlers enjoying lunch

Here is a short video taken with the GoPro leaving the beach after lunch

It was a short transition back through the harbour past all the "blingy" yachts and to our starting point and all done in around 4 hours. A great first trip with the SISKA group and we look forward to participating in future paddles.

SISKA Feb 4th Relaxed Paddle Track

January, Poof........ Gone!

Where did it go? What happened? One thing I know for sure is that we didn't get on the water this month and it wasn't from a lack of wanting to or being prepared for a day of exploration.  Simply...... Old Man Winter made his presence on the "Wet Coast" and for a short period of time we even became a winter wonderland with a cold snap and snow.

It doesn't stop there because if it wasn't raining, snowing or sunny on my work days (it figures), it was blowing anywhere from 50 km/h to 90 km/h at peak gusts. Although we didn't see Toto fly by we did see the roof of our boat (not kayak...whew!) shed leave last Sunday.  So in a nutshell ....... January was a complete write off in terms of being on the water but we did explore other life opportunities.

Taking advantage of the inclement weather, Robyn and I have really immersed ourselves into yoga practice to increase our flexibility, tone our wobbly bits and bring a little bit of relaxation into our busy lives. After three weeks of five formal practices per week we have seen and felt a tremendous improvement in our bodies that will only assist us in the development of our kayak skills. Maybe my body will now be able to generate the much heard about "hip flick" for rolling. ;-)

This month Robyn gained another year of life experience and I will do the same on Monday. In moving forward with our passion for kayaking we heard about the South Island Sea Kayaking Association (SISKA) from kayak instructors and friends on Facebook over the past few months and attended their January general meeting this past week.

The meeting started with a "Gear Swap" and it was a chance to meet some of the kayakers (some local legends) we have read about in numerous blogs, forums and on Facebook. I managed to pick up a MEC 20 Litre dry bag in almost new condition for a great deal of $5 to add to my gear head collection. Sweet!

The business end of the meeting was a very relaxed format. Sheila (Chairperson) worked the membership with her sense of humour such as trying to explain "current" training in a pool environment, only to realize there are no currents in a pool.  One member suggested (in jest) that maybe a kayak could be dragged sideways with ropes up and down the pool to simulate the currents!!  Everyone had a good chuckle.

The guest speaker of the night was Nick Castro of Active Sea Kayaking.  Nick spoke about surfing with kayaks. He is the owner / instructor who surfs the Baynes Channel tide race and has some amazing video on You Tube.  His knowledge of techniques and etiquette while surfing with other kayakers and long board surfers was very informative and he also has a very unique sense of humour. His slide show of great surfing captured from cameras mounted on his kayak are so cool it just further tweaked my interest in getting a GoPro Hero2. After a great evening..... we signed up for membership in SISKA and look forward to participating with the club.

Did I mention that I'm a Gear Head?

After a few months of research and shopping around we picked up a GoPro Hero2 Outdoor Edition, LCD BacPac, Suction Mount, Grab Bag of mounts and a 32GB Class 10 SD Card yesterday. Visions Electronics gave us a skookum deal on the Hero2 and LCD and blew the other big box shops out of the water in price (even though they didn't have all the accessories that we were looking for). A couple more stops at Valhalla and Future Shop completed our accessory needs. I can't wait to start using this new way of capturing our adventures on and off the water!

Here comes February!

Firming Up Our Stance

Two weeks into January already and I can feel the warm weather and longer days starting to set in on the west coast except...... it has been snowing on and off all day and the forecast calls for more during the week. My back has been responding to treatment and I have been meaning to bring my creative thoughts to reality as well as exploring different forms of exercise (Yoga) that will compliment our kayaking and my running goals this year.

On the advice of our RMT who is also a certified Bikram Yoga Instructor, Robyn and I enrolled in a 4 week basic "Yoga 101" Hatha workshop focusing on the yoga fundamentals of breathing (pranayama), alignment and poses (asana) that will build a strong foundation of the philosophy. Our first "101" session made an impression on us so much that we also attended two all level Hatha classes during the week and thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of controlling our thoughts, breathing and learning the limitations that our bodies have developed over the years. I have really appreciated what it has done for my ailing back that I now start my day with 30 minutes of practice that prepares me to tackle the challenges of the day. It's early to tell but I feel that the increased flexibility that can result from Yoga practice will benefit our days on the water. Namaste

For the past couple of months I have been creating in my noodle box (LOL) a pair of  kayak racks for wash downs and rigging instead of using lawn chairs to rest our rides on. So after a quick trip to Home Depot and Capital Iron, I whipped up a couple of light weight easy to use collapsible racks that are in many ways like saw horses but not so clunky to handle or haul around in the truck. Simple 2"x2" pine construction, stainless hardware, carpenter's glue, seatbelt webbing, and a little rope and they were ready in no time.

These should do the trick either at home, RV site or on the beach prepping our rides

OK, many might think that we are "keeners" or some might think we are crazy for wanting to paddle during the winter months but both have us have embraced this passion full on. Every time out we have taken away so much from the experience and in our own way connected with what being on the water means to us individually. The challenges to get on the water even in miserable winter conditions can be somewhat eased if properly prepared for what mother nature has to offer. For many (and us included) the thought of getting wet (feet) while getting in the boat just puts enough doubt in one's mind that opportunities to ride the waves might pass on by.

Another addition to our "Gear Head" wear. NRS Boundary Boots

Solution? Chatting with fellow kayaker (Liz) at yoga last night, it got us thinking that we need dry booties of some sort for the winter. So after having a great breakfast down town at John's Place we checked out the local dive shop but the solution wasn't there. Stopping by Ocean River (what's new :-) to see what they had, we chatted with Peter who is a kayaker and guide in the summer. He personally recommended the NRS Boundary Boots and I have to say that I think he was reading my mind. They fit great in the store and even better at home with our farmer john's. I think these just might be the answer!

A Great Read With A Laugh Or Two

So I'm one of those people who likes to know about what I'm doing, how things work and how to develop my skills every time I get the chance to try it again. The same thing applies in my approach to kayaking and I guess you could say it is one of my "quirks" but it has got me this far in life so it must be working. 

Today we have the ability to do much of our research on the internet but sometimes you just can't beat a good old fashioned book to thumb your way through. For me, I like to read (usually on my eReader) and it's not often that a hard or soft back book captures my attention. For Christmas, Robyn gave me a book call Sea Kayaking Illustrated by John Robison and I did the old "judging a book by it's cover" thing and thought it just was another kayaking book until..... I opened it to page 6  which explains the Types of Sea Kayakers. (Amazon Preview-Look Inside)

Here the eight types of kayakers are described with artwork from the author which include The Gear Head, The Naturalist, The Baja/Belize Bum, The Fishermaniac, The Wave Hog, The Reluctant Spouse, The Fitness Guru and The Whitewater Kayaker. Reading the illustrated descriptions made me laugh and when I asked Robyn which of the eight I am there was no hesitation "Gear Head"!!! OK I'll give her that one.

Working my through each section was not only informative but I chuckled most of the way especially when I got to "Pee Kayaking" and "Making Poopies". Here the author uses 10 pages to describe the finer art of relieving yourself when in a kayak of which I hope that I don't have to do very often. If nature calls.... I'll probably be laughing during the experience thinking about this book.

Most kayakers have heard or read this wonderful illustrated book but if you haven't, take the time to pick up a copy and have a look. I'm sure you'll want to add it to your collection.