The best laid plans

The best laid plans - mine and the surf competition's - often go awry.

For the first two days of the event the surfers had pretty much no waves. Nada. Nothing. Then today the swell from Nemo (when did they start naming snow storms? - obviously at least 14 letters ago) finally arrived - at the same time a low front passed over the island with big winds (even for here) and rain. The event organizers declared a "lay day" (a day off) for tomorrow with plans to finish the event on Wednesday.

And my plans? Well in the last post I explained why I don't normally photograph surf events (too many other "important" photographers) and that I planned to KAP (kite aerial photography) this one as I have previous competitions.

All well and good. I skipped the first day of the competition (Saturday) and the huge crowds and blocked roads. I got there early Sunday to get a decent parking place, set up my kite and the KAP rig and be in place for a long KAP session on the beach.

There was nice steady not ridiculously strong wind so I put up the Ola Lola's rokaku kite as my lifter. It's a beautiful kite made just for us by a friend in Wisconsin. But it is a VERY strong pulling kite that I can only use moderate winds. Sunday was perfect. I could fly our logo over the crowd (a bit of ambush marketing) and KAP at the same time. Cool!

All was going well when the wind totally died. The wind never totally dies here! Except for this one particular moment. My spot on the beach left do room for a "rescue run;" there was literally no where to run. So I started hauling in line hand-over-hand as fast as I could.

Just not fast enough.

I watched the kite sink toward the ocean and my camera sink into the ocean. I happened to be standing right by the event life guard tent and several brave life guards waded into the lake-flat water to rescue camera and kite. The kite survived to fly another day. The camera, alas, did not.

This is the last photo my camera took as it sank into the ocean.

In addition to totally drowning the camera, the dunk in the ocean ruined the receiver and the servos on the KAP rig. So I not only have to replace the camera, I also have to rebuild the kite rig.

Several people have asked my why I don't use a waterproof camera like the GoPro. Good question. Until the latest edition of the GoPro, the still images just weren't good enough. The camera was really made for video, which it does well. The stills were mediocre at best. I've read about the new GoPro3 and it looks like it has potential. Because of some recent correspondence, I have some personal issues with the GoPro company. But that's another story. Maybe some day I'll get over it and buy a GoPro. for now, no.

Besides, in six years of KAPping, most of it over and around the ocean, this is the first dunking/drowning incident I've had. Call it acceptable risk. I've ordered a new camera and the parts to rebuild the KAP rig. We'll be back in business in a week or so.

Just too late for the Rip Curl contest.