May I ask members of this forum with experience in using Race Committee Vessel and Pin-end Video Recorders on Start/Finish lines, and/or Range Finders to check distances greater than 400 metres to Marks, etc., for advice and recommendations as to which Type, make, and model I should purchase?
(We use Golf range finders for line length, which are an economical solution for line length )
Perhaps a few links to their own recordings would be helpful to us all?
Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you
Just add some SOLAS reflecting tape on the RIB console/buoy to get a clean signal.
Alternatively, your pin team could use a GPS / MOB function to the signal boat, very easy...
Main problem is to find a target such as another commitee boat , second problem is you're always mooving especially on a small boat
Finish, i pad or samsung tablet seems to be the preferred option. A good sturdy possibly a waterproof case with a handhold on the back.
I use hunting laser from leopold, i also have their binoculars which onntain a compass and laser rangefinder.
Over 300,m lines are generally set in meters by gps. My gps at this distance dafaults to meters, but it is set for longer distanced to nautical mikes.
I think the windy company do rangefinders but i do not have one.
Mike
Voice recorder - Sony ICD-PX470 Digital Voice Recorder (about $70 USD). I prefer using it rather than a phone. You can tie the lanyard to the starting staff at head level and leave it there. It's not waterproof, but will work inside a plastic bag. Recordings can be downloaded to a computer via the built-in USB connector.
Range finder - Bushnell Prime 1300 (discontinued). It's a hunting range finder that is 100% waterproof and good to about 800 meters - if you can get a good shot on the object at that distance. Accuracy is < 0.1 m
Consumer-grade GPS is accurate to about 10 m, although it is often more accurate than that (GPS accuracy is a statistical function similar to a bell curve.) In general, short distances (< 0.1 nm / 185 m) are best measured with the range finder; longer distances are best measured with GPS.
BouyZone is a great product, but it is very difficult to drive to a waypoint than away from one due to the accuracy issues. (This was a problem with early drone software - the drone would "circle the drain" when approaching a waypoint.) It also requires a certain level of commitment from the mark boat operators. I am just returning from an international event in Mexico where the mark layers were local fishermen and they would not have been willing to use BuoyZone.
When driving to a waypoint, the closer you get to it, the more unstable the reading on the GPS gets - it's ahead of you at first, then the bearing changes rapidly as you approach the waypoint. It could be be beside you, behind you, etc. The GPS will "hunt" trying to find the exact position, and it changes every time the GPS updates its position. That's why it's called "circling the drain" - moving in a spiral trying to home in on the waypoint.
I understand that this is sometimes a problem with BuoyZone. Because it relies on the cellphone network, when connectivity is poor, BouyZone can be a bit laggy.
I think the problem can be minimised by approaching the mark position in the direction of the axis. GPS/BuoyZone quite likes to go in straight lines.
A red hot IRO or TD might be worried by a windward mark 10m left or right of the desired position, but he or she will hardly quibble about plus or minus 10m in leg length.
And unless they've got Mike's Bionic Rangefinder Binocs, they'll never know.
Some golf range finders are cheap, but they have small exit pupils and are difficult to focus with (for example, I have to take off my glasses to use mine). More expensive ones have bigger lenses and are easier to use.
Ordinary digital voice recorders have excellent microphones, I wear mine on a lanyard round my neck (with the rest of my RO Christmas Tree). Just dangling down on the lanyard it will pick up everything I say, plus the starting count from the timekeeper or electronic system a couple of metres away. No need to hold it up near your face.
Thanks to Matt for suggesting the
GoPro Hero 11 Black. I’ve researched it further and it ranks very highly in surveys especially waterproof to 30 meters and clever stabiliser / always level features.
And to Yorick Klipfel for his SOLAS tape idea.
I have a similar system to Buoyzone which I also have on trial and I do understand the problem about it being “very difficult to drive to a waypoint than away from one due to the accuracy issues. (This was a problem with early drone software - the drone would "circle the drain" when approaching a waypoint.”
I just went outside into a clear area well away from my house and pinned my blue dot position. As I suspected it walks sometimes as much as 100 metres from where I stand. I’ve done this several times before with the same result. It seems to be some inbuilt error perhaps for military reasons ?
I fing the App great for setting the course before I ever go near a race area.
Thanks
Great forum. Thank you
I wear mine "geek style" mounted on a ball cap that I wear (amazon sells the ball caps with the go pro mount for under $20 US). For starts, I narrow down the field of view to focus the 5k resolution on the start line. Since the camera is on a ball cap, it records whatever I am looking without my having to think about it. I just have to remember to hit the record button (doh) and then I can focus on my job as a line sighter. Don't need an extra person to play videographer. No worries about the camera's field of view swaying out of view if the signal boat sails on her anchor. The down side is that it's, well, it's pretty geeky looking. And the video bounces when my head bounces (which I do surprisingly little of when calling starts :)
I also use the "geek cam" for doing rule 42 judging, it is fabulous for that.
For umpiring - I just got an Insta360 camera that is showing a lot of promise. It shoots 360 degrees all the time, and its software is pretty good at taking out the fisheye component. So for umpiring where your head is on a swivel you get a nice steady picture without the whiplash that my "geek cam" causes. And I mount it on a stick and I don't look like a geek anymore. The insta doesn't work as well (IMHO) for RC line spotting as its 8k (in the newest edition) resolution is for the full 360 degrees, if you only care about say 15 of those degrees, the resolution drops from 8k to 400 - not good enough to pick up much on a long starting line. Probably would work well on a finish line tho' (haven't had that opportunity yet).
If ever a picture was worth a thousand words ... that'd be it :-)