Kite Cam Down!!!!

On Saturday I went sailing with my father-in-law.  We had a pleasant sail with winds 5 - 12 knots and temps to 73 degrees.

Several weeks ago my dad suggested I should try sending my camcorder up on a Kite to get an aerial view of the boat sailing.  He saw videos of Kite Cams on YouTube and told me to give them a look.   I like the idea and made a bracket to hold the camcorder and bought a kite from the local hobby store.  My first attempt to get the camcorder airborne was a week ago in my back yard.  The winds were in the 10 knot range.  The weight of the camcorder and bracket were too heavy though and the kite was not able to get the camcorder more than a couple feet off the ground.

So I modified the bracket by punching several hole in it and was able to reduce the weight 58%.  It was 0.38 pounds and I got it down to 0.22 pounds.

On Saturday I tried flying my Kite Cam off the boat.  It got a little higher than it did last week in my back yard, but with the winds only about 12 knots and the camcorder and bracket still to heavy it did not quite work as I had hoped.

On my second attempt of the day it got up about 20 feet for a few seconds and then the kite did a nose dive into the lake…Kite Cam Down!  The line broke at the kite, but luckily the line held onto the camcorder and I was able to pull it back onboard.

 

Screen Capture from Kite Cam

 

Another Screen Capture from Kite Cam

I think my next kite needs to be bit bigger (more surface area) and I will see if I can reduce the weight of the bracket some more.

On Sunday, I went sailing with a friend.  There was a small craft advisory in effect with a forecast for winds of 15-20 knots and waves 2-4 feet building to 4-6 feet.  We didn’t venture too far from Waukegan in case things became uncomfortable.  As it turned out the waves were in the 2-4 foot range when we departed, but didn’t build at all and seemed to decline a bit.   Also, the winds didn’t get any higher than 12 knots.   The temperature got to 60 degrees and it was sunny, so the sail was a very enjoyable one. 

First Fall Day sail

The weather forecast for Saturday had a small craft advisory in effect, calling for showers, big winds and big waves.  We decided not to go sailing.  I think it was a mistake because the showers didn’t happen and the waves didn’t get too big.

On Sunday, my wife and I went out for a pleasant Fall sail.  Coolest temperatures so far for us at 57 degrees.  Winds were 10 -15 knots and the skies were partly cloudy.  Temperature wise it was very comfortable and we both just wore sweat shirts and didn’t need to put on jackets.

Trying to get my wife more comfortable with the operation of the boat, I let her take it out of the marina.  We also practiced tacking a few times and she did a great job. 

 

Enjoyed 2 days of sailing contrasts

On Saturday I went sailing with a couple friends.  We left about 2:00 and returned around 7:30.  Winds started out light at about 3 knots, but got to a brisk 15 knots.  As we returned, the colors of the sunset over Waukegan were pretty.

 

On Sunday I went sailing with my wife, daughter and her husband and his brother and his wife.  Winds were calm when we left and got to about 8 knots for the last half of the sail.

 

The new stern seats worked out very well.

 

Stern Seats

Many newer sailboats have stern seats.  My brother and I thought it would be good for us to also have some.  It would provide additional seating room and make for a more comfortable and less crowded cockpit area.  We decided we didn’t need the davits and would use the same mounting holes so as not to add any additional holes in the deck.

Davits Removed

I visited Kendore Marine Supply and found a couple of pieces of “King Starboard” that would do the trick for the seats.

I brought an old rectangular milk crate to the boat to use as a base to help determine what the height of the stern seats should be.  The milk crate has 3 different dimensions and we found that we liked the one that would put the top of the seat 13” above the deck.

 

Using milk crate to help determine height

 

 

I made a couple wooden bases out of plywood and 2x4s and brought them to the boat to get the exact dimensions needed for the design of the stern seat bases.

 

Wooden base mockups

Once I figured out the final base design requirements (dimensions and angles) I drew it up using AutoCAD and the guys at work fabricated and welded the stainless steel pieces.

 

 

 

 Last night after work my brother and I went up to the boat and installed them.

New stern seat bases installed

 

New stern seats

 

We still have a couple things to do before completing the project.  We still need to countersink the bolts holding the seats to the base and install the cup holders I bought for the seats.

Big Winds on Saturday

On Saturday I went sailing with my wife and another couple. Winds were 10 - 15 knots with the occasional gust to 22 knots.
 
We logged a high speed of 6.9 knots and had the rail in the water a few times.
 
I didn’t get around to taking any pictures or video, but here is the GPS track for the sail.

 

Long weekend and only 1 day of sailing

I was really looking forward to the long Labor Day weekend. I had hoped to sail from Waukegan to Chicago on Saturday (30 miles by boat), then sail up and down the beautiful Chicago Lakefront on Sunday and return to Waukegan on Monday. BUT, remnants of Hurricane Issac decided to visit the Chicago area on Saturday and Sunday bringing rain, big winds and big waves to Lake Michigan.

I went to the boat on Saturday with a couple friends in the hopes that the rain would hold off until late in the afternoon. It didn’t. It started raining shortly after we arrived. We sat it the cabin and ate lunch hoping it would pass. It didn’t. We called it a day when we heard a couple thunder boomers.

I went back to the boat on Sunday with my wife and another couple. The forecast was for big winds and waves 3 – 5 feet subsiding to 1 – 3 feet later in the day. When we arrived the waves were pretty big. We waited about an hour and kept on eye on them. They seemed to die down a bit (wishful thinking playing tricks on our eyes) and we decided to go out knowing it would be an exciting ride. We didn’t get far. We encountered a couple short frequency 8 footers pretty quickly, one of which buried the bow. We were getting pretty wet from the spray and decided to go back in.

Getting ready to head out

Almost cleared the marina's breakwater heading out

Got some white caps

Heading back in

My wife happy to be back in the marina

On Monday Lake Michigan calmed down. My brother and I went out with light winds and 1 -2 foot waves. There was a lot of pent up demand for sailing. I had not seen so many sailboats out at one time as on Monday. It looked like a sea of sails as we headed out. I made a bracket for my sport camcorder and hoisted it up the back stay. It wasn’t very stable. In the video from Monday’s sail I had to set the video clip to slow motion in order to keep from getting sea sick when watching it.