Solo Third Person Filming While on the Water

[mjamero]

In the interest of self improvement I am curious if any of you have solutions for 3rd person filming while on the water. I have a Go-Pro and Flymount which is useful for mounting anywhere on the clew or mast. Very useful but, there are times I would really like to see my performance in the third person as someone on the beach would see. I am working on gybes and this perspective could be quite useful. Whenever I sail I am either sailing solo (other people may be around but I do not know them) or, the people I am with are also out windsurfing which does not really work. In an ideal world I could just put a camera on a tripod and leave it on the beach. In realty, the camera rig would either be stolen, knocked over by gusts, or have seagulls standing and pooping all over it.

The first idea is to find a clear camera case and somehow secure it to a fixed object with an unobstructed view of the sailing area. The challenge with this is that the object you secure to could be so far away that you would like like an ant on the water.

The second idea is to park my vehicle pointing at the sailing area and use a dash cam type of setup. Again, distance from the sailing area is an issue. My usual sailing spots do not accommodate parking with a clear view of the sailing area from inside the vehicle.

The third idea would be to purchase a drone with auto tracking. These are getting much cheaper. This would be excellent for filming but there are serious liability issues (correct me if I'm wrong) if you are trusting a drone to just follow you around while sailing with no one manning the controls. Furthermore I don't know about the idea of using a drone in wind and over water. If it's windy enough for a good session it's perhaps too windy for a drone (piloted or auto).

So what can one do or is what I'm asking unrealistic without assistance from a second person?

[Michael]

https://soloshot.com

[mjamero]

https://soloshot.com

Cool. Pricey...but cool. What about theft? I'm pretty sure if I set this up at Locarno Beach in the summer and went for a session it would NOT be there when I return.

I wonder if something similar exists without the builtin camera. Something that would allow you to use your own camera.

[mjamero]

We are on to something here...https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_cont ... caVaQmzEyY

[mjamero]

Soloshot 3 would certainly do the trick if you can figure out how to prevent it getting stolen. However $1100 CAD is out of my price range.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... amera.html

https://youtu.be/ca6KJ88wguI?t=10

As far as theft and security goes I suppose it could be possible to somehow chain or lock it to a log, tree, or sign post.

[grantmac]

Build an armored turret on your van?

[mjamero]

Build an armored turret on your van?

Yeah. Train a couple rabid seals to guard it. Better yet... just train them to run a camera.

[grantmac]

Maybe install one of those sweet bubble windows from the 80s? Or dash cam style.

[adam2]

I'd stick with onboard filming as I lack the trust in humanity required to leave $1k worth of filming gear on the beach anywhere close to Vancouver. This guy used a cutdown SUP paddle attached to his boom. The added length seems to give him a way better shot than anything I've ever got by putting the camera on the clew end of my boom:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3yT7jdUMu4

[Pavel]

Mark, next time we go Windsurfing together, I can follow you with my head mount camera and/or film you from the beach while I take a break.