W79 vlogs > UPDATE > goooood stuff :)

[W79]

ATM the video is being processed by YouTube to reduce the camera shake (big mistake > makes it even worse by skewing the picture in an attempt to keep everything stable > messes up the captions).  I'll probably have to reset it to the original upload.

Maybe that's causing the problem?  All other settings are the same as the previous video, should be available on all platforms...

[Janx101]

Lol.... Yeah leave the footage as it was originally Wim, ... I fully expect a kite vid to be swirling all around!!! .. Only put the green face in there as a stir up!! .. 

I've got a little baby 'version' of your kite... Only dual string and only good for 25knot winds.. Not a parasail style but a frame and skin... Always wanted to get one of those big kites though.... And a buggy ... And a big long empty sandflat .....

And a wingsuit to go jumping off mountains with 

..... If the footage 'was all stable and level' ... It'd just wreck the whole kite feeling eh!! 

[W79]

Kites are great fun.  I've always loved them.

I first saw a Nasawing over 15 years ago while I was surfing in the south of France.
Kitesurfing was still very new then (at least to me), so I wasn't used to seeing kites that big.
Walked up to the guy flying it, started chatting.

He pretty much told me everything I needed to know to get me hooked:
I love the NASA-background thing (boys never grow up  ), but -truth be told- this thing has had so many things changed that it's quite a long way from its brake-parachute origins.    The original ones were supposed to hold their position, while a kite obviously has to be controllable.

I bought this 3.4m² shortly after, and even made a 2m² myself.  Found building instructions on the internet, borrowed someone sowing machine and gave it a go:  turned out pretty good, considering that it needed more than 100 meters of bridle, divided over 40 or so bridle lines, all of which needed to have a very exact length...

The 'wing' ended up being too limited for me: it only has a narrow 'window' (all kites generates some kind of traction when they're 100% downwind, good traction kites keep pulling, even when you steer them 80° to the left of right). 
I bought two or three foil-kites (big mattress type of things: more stable, more powerful) and a landboard, so I could ride.

A few years later, I bought some second hand kitesurfing kit.  One day that monster (12m²) just picked me up randomly (fluke gust of wind) and slammed me back down on the beach.  Sold it the next week.  L. was 6 months pregnant with our first daughter back then, breaking my neck was NOT an option.   

By the time we had three kids, the opportunities to go kiting were few and far between (don't live very close to the coast), so I sold all the foils and the board.  I did hang on to the old Nasawing, and I got myself a Revolution.
Don't know if you've ever seen one of those?  They're 4-line stunt kites, giving you total control.  I'm not very good at it, but in the hands of experts, these things are amazing:

[W79]

Great feature of the DriftHD: you can turn the lens 360°, so that you can always level out the horizon, no matter where or how you attach the camera... 

Not so great: forgetting that you used this feature when you mounted the camera to your son's gocart.
Took another nice drive tonight, with the camera (batteries charged and everything !) only to realize afterwards that everything I shot is tilted 70° to the left 

Boy, I really am a slow learner 

[W79]

This week's vlog is up.

Because talking when riding was always a compromise (unsafe, not very nice to listen too... ah... er...)
I decided to pre-record all the audio and just put it on top op some video.

Like the end result, but I think I dialed out the engine/ambient noises a bit too much.
Let me know what you think

By the way:
very nice to hit the 'upload' button before going to sleep, and waking up to see 2 'regulars' have already left a comment.
Cheers guys 

[W79]

Busy weekend ahead, so I already posted my next episode.
I think it's on an interesting topic: countersteering.

I started riding on a Vespa.  No shifting, light, nimble: good fun.
Never really thought about how I got the thing round a corner.  I just got on it and took off.

But my wife didn't.  She had a lot of difficulty taking corners properly, running wide on every turn.
I didn't know what to say other than 'lean over more'.   Somebody on vespaforum.be suggested
teaching her how to countersteer.

Good suggestion, but at that time I didn't even know what it was myself.
So I looked it up, and it was a real eye-opener.  I realized quickly that I'd been doing it all along,
but doing it consciously allowed me to control my scooter a lot more accurately. 
Especially evasive manoevres at speed became a lot easier.

Anyway, since then I've watched over a dozen of videos explaining countersteer.
Some do very well, some don't.   
Decided to give it a try myself, hope you enjoy the result...

[slipperymongoose]

Well put I liked it

[W79]

Next vlog is up, and this time it's a video response to slipperymongoose's Pet Peeves video.

Thanks for the inspiration, mongoose, I gave you a shoutout

[codajastal]

I think you should go back to live vlogging or at least leave the sound of the video on at a lower volume and overlay your talking?
Cannot comment on your motive for the response on slips vlogs as I havent watched any of them

[W79]

I did that, cods, but I've been having some sound issues...

I have a hard time finding the sweet spot for my external mic, and on the last few runs the wind noise was so overwhelming that I toned it WAY down (so low that it's hardly noticeable apparently).

Working on an improvement.  Live vlogging is not coming back anytime soon.

[slipperymongoose]

Next vlog is up, and this time it's a video response to slipperymongoose's Pet Peeves video.

Thanks for the inspiration, mongoose, I gave you a shoutout

Cheers for the shoutout I shall return the favour soon got a few more lined up.

I think you should go back to live vlogging or at least leave the sound of the video on at a lower volume and overlay your talking?
Cannot comment on your motive for the response on slips vlogs as I havent watched any of them

Oh really? Hmmmmmmm ok

[W79]

And the next one's already up...
Won't be around to film/edit/upload next week, so thought I'd get this one out early.

Nice story about a guy who 'saved my day'.
Did a 180km stretch just to get to the starting point of a roadbook I wanted to try.
When I got there, my satnav started screwing with me...
That's when a good samaritan came along and helped me.

Sound issues have been adressed.  Not perfect yet, but definitely better.

[yamahonkawazuki]

I did that, cods, but I've been having some sound issues...

I have a hard time finding the sweet spot for my external mic, and on the last few runs the wind noise was so overwhelming that I toned it WAY down (so low that it's hardly noticeable apparently).

Working on an improvement.  Live vlogging is not coming back anytime soon.

put a fabric bandage over the mic

[W79]

Cheers, Yama!  I'll give that a go as well.

For now I've got the foam cap of another old microphone wrapped around it.  Seems to keep some of the wind noise out.
Also, the position inside the helmet seems to matter a lot. 

I used to have it behind the cheekpads, but I think I had it too close towards the external shell, so it could pick up a lot of noise from that.
Now it's sticking out just above the cheekpad, seemed to work well enough.

The vague 'static' sound you can hear in the last video is interference from my intercom system (I was using it for the satnav).

I also forked out for a new ram-mount and a longer ram-arm, so I can mount the camera to a few other positions on the bike itself.
Looks like I'll have to use the internal mic on those.  We'll see how that works out.

[W79]

This next vlog took me a bit longer to make, because I've been experimenting with some new software (Pinnacle Studio 16).

I think it's a good one 
two parts in the video:
- my thoughts on people who buy a bike only to put it in a garage for five years and then sell it
- some clips of me going around my 'test track' at dusk.

[slipperymongoose]

How do you find the new software? I have 15. Ill have to watch a comparrasion video

[yamahonkawazuki]

the fabric bandage i made mention  of is the part with the pad. ( middle )

[Janx101]

coulda just said bandaid to start with Yama!! even the walmart brand ones... i bet most .. well a lot of... people still call them bandaids