First take off and landing from the boat today and I'm still shaking...

Pam

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After a lot of research and planning, and practicing hand catches, I did my first take off and landing from the boat today. actually landed it on the deck of the small pontoon boat after fighting the buffeting from the updraft, just when I thought I would resort to a hand catch, I saw the opportunity to bring it down the last 4 feet and took it.

very light wind day and anchored boat but it was still drifting and pivoting at anchor due to wake.

Quick flight... didn't want a low battery

I was shaking for at least 10 minutes afterward, but got some cool video of an island where boaters anchor and swim

I will post a link as soon as I figure out how to create some clips and shorten it. (bought Cyberlink Power Director 14 but for the life of me I cant figure out how to create clips from the longer source video!)
 
Way to go Pam . Just take your time and you will have it down in no time .
But..never get to over confident .That's what gets me :)
Looking forward to seeing the clips .
 
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After a lot of research and planning, and practicing hand catches, I did my first take off and landing from the boat today. actually landed it on the deck of the small pontoon boat after fighting the buffeting from the updraft, just when I thought I would resort to a hand catch, I saw the opportunity to bring it down the last 4 feet and took it.
Congrats on a safe landing afloat.
It's strange how knowing that one mistake and the game's over, makes you so nervous.
I remember my first boat launch a year ago.
 
shark.gif
Nope they in da water :eek:
 
Congrats!

I've launched from various boats. It's super cool and yes, as you noted, nerve racking. I did my first follow me the other day from our RIB as we are repowering the mother ship. Launching from a 10-1/2' boat was tight but doable. Delos launches from their dink a lot but it's more like 14'.

Some things to keep in mind ( learned from my own errors and others );

Watch the compass carefully! Boats have some unique properties when it comes to magnetic and electrical noise. The bigger the boat, the more systems that can interfere up to a certain size, then shear volume and distance remove those items.

Examples - engines, GPS systems, AIS, shortwave and VHF, the Iridium setup, ( for us there are 12 - 1/2" shrouds on our mast and they make a bit of a faraday cage. ) Radar, FLIR to name some.

Bottom line, always check the compass at launch, and after you are in the air.

Did I mention rigging, large birds and thermals?

Depending on the water, air currents can be all over, read the ripples not just the waves.

Sailboats ( especially over 30' ) can create eddies around them, keep a safe distance. In lighter winds ( 4 knots and below.) I'd not worry too much.

Over water I have been been bringing the bird home at 40% to be safe.

Now the odd part as pointed out to me by a VERY NICE U.S. Park Ranger. Some national parks extend out over and cover some waterways completely, check the map. He did let me fly just outside the land area and shoot the park on my old QX350 but he could have also made trouble.

Glad you had a great flight.

IMHO - flying over water from a boat is amazing.
 
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I still would be nervous about a boat takeoff/landing. I fly over water and am over the jitters there. But I take off from good old terra firma.
 
Way to go Pam. Congrats and it just gets better and better.

My first boat launch and recovery was on the Outer Banks of NC with 2 boats (film crew and TV personality) watching. I honestly think I could hear my knees knocking of the roar of the twin engines of the boat. Luckily one of the on-scene photographers snapped several pics and you can't see my knees knocking in the pics at all LOL.

Again congrats!!
 
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You tha Man, Pam!
 
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thanks for all the encouragement and advice. I was careful to shutdown everything in the boat...engine, battery, sonar. winds were light so I didn't take the bimini down.

yeah, my hands were shaking for sure....probably my knees too.

Took me a while to learn the minimum basics of power director 14 but I finally got a video of the flight together. unfortunately my 4K video ended up encoded at 720p as the highest definition available. Will have to research that one.....but meanwhile, my maiden flight from the little pontoon....

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I will post a link as soon as I figure out how to create some clips and shorten it. (bought Cyberlink Power Director 14 but for the life of me I cant figure out how to create clips from the longer source video!)


I also use PowerDirector 14. There is a lot of information on the Cyberlink forums that may answer any questions you may have.

I haven't done any 4k video on PowerDirector yet, but it is pretty easy to use once you get familiar with all it can do. I'll start searching, and if you find anything useful, either you or I can start a new thread about it. Like "Using PowerDirector for 4k" or something similar.
 
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Very cool! Seeing all the boats around the island like that was really neat! Thanks for posting the video! I would like to launch from a boat on the lake near where i live and get some pics of the marina and some local sites. Thanks for the encouragement!
 
Nice Video, your not too far from me. I was up at Safe Harbor Saturday filming my son rock climbing

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Pam,

Great video, piloting and editing. Props for Buffet soundtrak!

That island looks crowded!

Have you though of shooting the rocks just south of Conowingo ****?

Sadly the water up there is far too skinny for us, charts show only a few feet. We need 5 plus to float, 6 or 7 to sail. We are down in Rock Creek just at the mouth of the Patapsco so not too far away.
 
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It gets easier after a while. Still exciting. Go slow and be conservative (like you're doing). The first time you muff the landing you'll be glad of all that extra battery.
 
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Thanks formstone!

don't think I would try the dam...probably security restrictions and too many obstacles.....beyond my experience for sure!

not only shallow water at times but lots of protruding rocks and swift current!
 
Thanks formstone!

don't think I would try the dam...probably security restrictions and too many obstacles.....beyond my experience for sure!

not only shallow water at times but lots of protruding rocks and swift current!


You can fly the dam, I just did Safe Harbor after my climbing video........
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