That was on a friends Catalina 280. Diagnosed why his halyards were so hard to use. Just a "run and gun" shot with no post other than the crop but the Canon EF 100-400 4.5-5.6L IS II is one hell of a lens.
Big scare with new standing rigging
- Thread starter Muttondressedaslamb
- Start date
The swellpro is a waste of money. Other than the novelty of being able to throw it in the water to launch it under performs drones that cost half as much. It's top winds are really low (under 15 kts IIRC) and the camera lense is lower resolution. Out cruising you see more Phantom Pro ($1,800) and Mavic Pro ($1,000) drones. The Mavic is small collapses for storage. The Phantom has better speed and battery life IIRC. Many boaters are now mounting handles on the bottom of the Phantoms to allow easier launching and retrieval. I had researched these three years ago when working for a some villas on JVD in the BVI. I was a boat captain and construction manager. The owner wanted progress photos weekly or more. So I ended up getting a Phantom. After dropping off guests or supplies I would pull over to White Bay, launch the drone and take video in 4K. Then edit and send to the owner when I got back to STT. It was actually kind of cool, he now has a huge video series that started before the storms (he paid a local for a couple of drone flights before he even started on the 8 new buildings) and rebuild progress videos starting about a month after the 2017 hurricanes. He could do some cool time lapses showing the hole process.
We thought about getting a drone before we started cruising again, but ultimately decided it wasn't worth a couple months cruising budget. Sometimes I regret that when other friends post some great drone shots in these remote anchorages. We were with Tula's Endless Summer last week and they were doing drone shots while doing spinaker rides, can't wait to see them.
If anyone needs a mast inspection via drone shoot me a DM.. i'm in south jersey and i do have the FAA Certs.. if you're close i'll do it for free as a fellow Catalina owner.. 
It wasn't the forestay that was slack. When I had new rigging made by Lockwood Boat Works, they noticed that the swivel was almost rubbing against the guide when the sail was hoisted all the way, so they cut the foils a little shorter. You can see that on the picture from August 2018.
Our new headsail is much smaller than the factory sail. It has an 8" pendent to raise the foot above the rail. And its a Yankee cut.
Thanks for the tip. I was mostly weighing the benefit of it not ending up in Davy Jones' locker if I happened to drive it a little off course.
@Muttondressedaslamb my luff has the same visible issues you are showing in that pic. My halyard is as tight as possible but that bottom part is always slack in the same exact spot. I need to take pics when we have some active sailing to help better understand my issues, which really means the original sails form 2003 need to be replaced. If I hadn't had my home foundation issues this year I would have just started with all new sails.
There are a variety of float options that can be added to drones with various success and failures. Practice and building solid skills from land is probably the best idea first. I can fly well on land, but transitioning to a moving platform, maintaining positive control, understanding all the built in safety features of your drone and then getting it back is a significant workload increase. For example, DJI has this great 'return to home' safety feature if the drone loses connection to the operator. This is all well and good when the operator is still in the same place it was flown from, like on land, not so much on a moving boat.
I’m not sure what the Regs on drones are in the USA but Canada’s are pretty strict. Anything over 250grams 1/2lb is quite restricted.
The biggest restriction (regardless of weight I think?) that would impact using a drone to take photos of a masthead is you can’t overfly any “bystanders” within a 100ft radius. I’m not sure if this holds true for people who have a “real“ pilots license but that leaves most “hobbyists” out.
@Hunter216 ah yes the FAA is very much involved in regulations, both hobbyists and commercial. The requirement for a 'license' is only for commercial operations, i.e. being paid, which I don't do just help out for free. Hobbyists are required to register and record your number and info on the aircraft. Since I've been flying since the 80s I'm pretty aware of the danger and avoid potential hazards to people, especially with a quad and 4 spinning blades. I like flying RC planes with my son for the fun and time together, so we do that at a club field and don't get stress by all the great help the government wants to provide us.
www.faa.gov
Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)
www.faa.gov
@JRT
Canadian regs
I have a couple of mini quads <250grams that I had before the “rules” happened. Fun but I now only fly them inside my house so so don’t end up in jail!
A few idiots decided to make some bad decisions that got into the news cycle, gov decided they had to “control” things.
The Basic Operations “license” lets you fly bigger drones but is the same kind of farce as the Ontario boater license. On line test where anyone can help the “testee” pass. Beginner motorcycle license is the same “logic”. A teenager in Ontario can get the license, walk into a bike shop and drive off the lot never having sat on a bike let alone knowing how to use it safely.
The “license” requirement if it’s meaningful should include a certain amount of mandatory hands on use IMHO
Canadian regs
I have a couple of mini quads <250grams that I had before the “rules” happened. Fun but I now only fly them inside my house so so don’t end up in jail!
A few idiots decided to make some bad decisions that got into the news cycle, gov decided they had to “control” things.
The Basic Operations “license” lets you fly bigger drones but is the same kind of farce as the Ontario boater license. On line test where anyone can help the “testee” pass. Beginner motorcycle license is the same “logic”. A teenager in Ontario can get the license, walk into a bike shop and drive off the lot never having sat on a bike let alone knowing how to use it safely.
The “license” requirement if it’s meaningful should include a certain amount of mandatory hands on use IMHO
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Canada might not approve of our hanger, we have 2 functional racing quads and the DJI. My son has been flying since 5, he is 16 now and is a more daring pilot then me! However my planes last longer see the A-10 on the floor is down for rebuilding.
