helmet cam video from the Ocoee at 2000+cfs

[dillonpro]

Check out the two links below of my helmet cam videos shot from my Dagger GTX C-1 on the Ocoee at 2000+cfs on Labor Day weekend

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/?photoid=5558

http://www.americanwhitewater.org/photos/?photoid=5557

LarryD

[PAC]

Nice, very nice....... I liked seeing the single blade movement and loved the roll in the 1st!
However, how come you missed the yak side surfing the hole in the 2nd - would have been cooler if you could of helped them out of the hole! In a nice sort of way!
What type of set up did you use? How did you mount it?

[dillonpro]

The yaker side surfing on the bottom ledge was a buddy of mine and I didn't want to spoil his "fun" He ended up finally bailing out and swimming. His boat remained for another minute before finally being spit out.
I use the standard Dagger C1 molded insert. After trimming the boat, the front attachment ears on the insert came close to the bolts for the adjustable bulk head and I was able to make extensions from heavy plastic shelving and bolted it in. on the back of the molded insert, I attached strips of the plastic shelving similar to the front and drilled holes through the tabs and the sides of the boat and bolted it in. I cringe when drilling holes through the boat but it does work real well.
LarryD

[aldenb]

larry, great video! someday i would like to do something like that. how did you attach the helmet cam and what type of cam did you use. that was some of the coolest kayaking footage i think ive seen in a long time. you really captured the feel of riding through the rapids (and of being upside down!) cool.

boy, those rapids both look like they get nice and padded. entrance is always such a shallow bitch up there at the top. i usually eddy out about ten feet above grumpy's in the middle of the river and surf that wave. there's a lot of moves you can do in there no that i think about it. great rapid. and broken nose is cool too. i have definitley gotten way too close to that bottom ledge -- it looks like even more of a man-eater at the level in your vid.

great stuff
Alden

[dillonpro]

Thanks , I also think its really cool getting to see the river from the paddlers view. The helmet cam was purchased from Viosport. You can see the website at http://www.viosport.com. I have the Adventure Cam H20. This is just the optics. The wire from it runs down to your camcorder. You must have the battery pack and you need the remote control(not mandatory but sure is handy) and the optional ten foot extension cable is also handy. The mounting systems they have are mainly for there smaller cams and I ended up duck taping the optic to my helmet. All this ran about $450. This of course does not include the cost of your camcorder. The waterproof system is in it's beginning stages since only the optic is the only waterproof thing about it. The remote control and mic are NOT waterproof. I took silicone and totally coated the remote and it's held up fine after two outings. A color coded LED on the remote tells you when you are recording(red) or paused(green). I have my camcorder in a pelican box inside the boat and right now the mic is inside the pelican box. Being wired to your box is not cool and occasionally I got the A/V cable from the optic wrapped around my paddle a few times(not cool). I hate to think about a wet exit. There is a disconnect six inches behind the optic which will add several seconds to me parting from the boat which is not cool if in a emergency situation. Just hope theres not too many wires wrapped around my body. Better be packing a knife just in case .
You attract a lot of attention with a Optic on your helmet. Some people actually thought I was somebody important. There is no zoom to this so if your trying to shoot your buddy, you got to be close. Water drops on the lens definitely block vision as you can see especially in the Broken Nose video. I have been applying Rain-X to the lens and it is helping somewhat. Anytime I have a chance I remove my helmet and blow the water drops from the lens. Over all, I'm glad I have it and I'm learning how to avoid hanging up in the wires. I'm looking forward to more "birdseye" video.
At that level, I believe it was 2400cfs that day, your right, it's much more padded and you may think I have a few screws loose, but I intentionly ran into Grumpys . At that level, I never touched bottom during my roll.
The waves in Double Trouble looked Big and Nasty. I'll also post that video soon.
No paddling this week. It's Muzzle loader season here for the next week so I'm off to the woods.
Later,
LarryD

[msims]

Those are *fantastic* videos! I'm looking forward to more! Hey dillonpro, you're important in my books for running *intentionall* into that hole... it looked ominous and did a pretty good job of munching you fast!

-mike.

[NZMatt]

Nice videos....awesome seeing the roll. Never seen one on video like that before.

Lotus makes a backpack attachment for some of their pfds (I think some other companies do to). Have you thought about using one of those to stash the pelican case with the camcorder to reduce the problems with wires and being wired to your boat?

Look forward to seeing more of these!

Matt

[sbroam]

I've got one of those Lotus backpacks - it's not very big and, especially in a C-1, it makes me feel very top heavy when I have it loaded with a throw rope (in it's own pouch) and minimal additional gear.