Lake Washington Shakedown March 30th

[GregJ]

Great Andy, see you soon.

[DMCI]

As good as it gets!

Well folks, I just got home from the terrific, wonderful Saturday Lake Washington boat extravaganza!

We ended up with about six or seven boats. It was a very nice cross-section of the club, and we got a lot of onlookers which of course, you are all used to. I rode up to Ivar's on lake Union with Chuck and his son on the Bainbridge.

After some terrific fish and chips at Ivar's, I traded boats and rode back with Greg on his 17 Express. It was a great experience, because both boats are very well finished inside but offer significantly different performance characteristics and styling.

With Greg's boat, it was amazing how much cabin room there was and even room for a porta potty. He told me that he gets 7 to 8 miles per gallon, which is really remarkable in my opinion.

We were joined by or five other club members including Toby who was just putting his boat in at Sayers pit when we arrived there. He brought along his father who is fairly new to boat operation but managed to get everything organized in due course. Pictures to follow in this space as soon as I get them organized or sometime in the future, whichever comes first.

[Skagitguy]

Here's some pictures from today. First picture is GregJ stepping in duck poop, 2nd is Andy in his super nice boat, Bruce & Toby in their boat, Having lunch at Ivar's outside in the sun and it only cost $20 at the outside fish bar ..WoW ! what a deal ! ,last picture of GregJ and Dave zipping back to Renton. Bruceb could not make it at the last minute because of trailer problem.

[DMCI]

Here are a few that I have finished reducing for display.

It turns out in retrospect, that my camera is incapable of taking pictures from a bouncy boat at higher speeds, as opposed to low speeds where it produces the best quality. I need to review my thinking on this process.









I have about eight or nine more, a lot of the really great shots were lost due to blurriness. Oh well, live and learn.

Well, thanks again everybody for a wonderful day!

[Stan D]

Here are a few more pictures

[Skagitguy]

Bruce, It was nice meeting you and your son and seeing your nice looking boat. Do you have any pictures from your "camera on a stick " Chuck

[Skagitguy]

[quote="DMCI, post: 24762"]
It turns out in retrospect, that my camera is incapable of taking pictures from a bouncy boat at higher speeds, as opposed to low speeds where it produces the best quality. I need to review my thinking on this process.


Dave Get a cheap $99 camera LOL !

[GregJ]

Toby, Thank you very much for pulling me into the dock, you made it easier for me. You and your Dad have a very nice boat, You will both have a lot of fun with it. All you guys who took all the great pictures thank you very much. I had a great day even though I was having some miner low idle problems. Thanks to John Nelson,Tim Matson and Andy E for all the ideas on that. I was able to resolve it.

[GregJ]

Andy, Please give me a call. I have a question for you. Thanks man.

[GregJ]

Andy, I forgot cell # 206 790 1725.

[DMCI]

Dave Get a cheap $99 camera LOL !

Thank you kind sir, I'm always in for a helpful suggestion! VeryBigSmile

However, that little Nikon of mine has capabilities I haven't even explored yet. My experience so far has been getting good pictures of things that just sit there. Obviously, sitting on a bobbing boat (with Greg driving around every piece of smooth water ) and trying to take a picture of another boat at speed, requires jacking up the ASA number(simulated). I was using a 320, and jacked it up 400 or so while cruising back down on the east side of Mercer Island. Next time, I may go to 1600 or better and that will allow me to use speeds 1/500 to 1/2000 or higher. I also think I may need a little longer fast lens. I've long had my eye on the 85/1.4 which is the equivalent on a 35mm camera of a 127mm short telephoto in the DX2 with it's 1.5 DX format.

I realize some of that's technical, but that's part of the digital camera experience. The long and short of it is that it is part of the photography hobby that is fun. The camera also loses some of its quality the more you push it over ASA 400. But generally, that statement was issued by a bunch of purists who would rather have me spend half the cost of a new boat on a Nikon D4 or some such. That ain't going to happen! :NoWay1:


So I will try to do it with what I have, and I only have 12 megapixels to fool with on the camera.



ps: When you see me with my own boat in the future, you might see me run ahead, and then stop for pictures.

[Bruce and Toby]

Here are the videos from the "camera on a stick".

We had a lot of fun. It was great to meet everyone!

http://youtu.be/BlFD_c3ph6M

[GregJ]

Pretty cool Bruce, You got that thing so high you could see the curvature of the earth. Got to get me one of those. Thanks guys.

[Bflaherty]

Awesome video Bruce, I have always wanted to do something like that but never had the gut to put my video camera out there in harms way. Do you use a GoPro waterproof camera or is that just a standard video camera?

[Bruce and Toby]

Yes, it's a GoPro camera. It came with a waterproof housing. The field of view is 170 degrees which, of course accounts for the curvature of the earth effects, but also helps lessen the shakiness.