For example: Who can last the longest in a wet board bag, or who can change their board shorts while standing on one leg - right on the beach, of course. My mate Max and I are always coming up with great tricks. Last week at Extremflaute, we had the ultimate idea: who can find the craziest action cam positioning? 14 days, winner's prize: a cinema ticket for "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes".
We had got ourselves into a bit of a mess. Of course we knew all the usual shots, shots from above, in front, behind, on the trapeze etc., it had to be a bit more unusual. It was easy to lure Max's son with a twenty as a spy, and he promptly reported that his father was currently working with a camera mount on his foot. He wanted to use it to swivel the camera forwards and backwards while travelling, but only produced high-capacity catapults with torn ligaments.
The realisation of my first idea only began ten days later, because somehow my camera had got into a footie in the spring and was thought to have disappeared ever since. Now rediscovered, it smelled funny but was still working. I mounted a five metre pole on the top of the mast with the cam on top. What a setting! But after just ten metres, a vicious seagull sat on it and shat on my lens. Good thing I had another idea.
I learned from my spy that Max was even experimenting with an eight-metre boom at the tail. Was the boy working as a double agent? In any case, there was no future in it either, because he cleared four surfers upwind while jibing. With this equipment, he could no longer be seen at the spot without taking a beating.
The final days of the deadline were spent in the utmost secrecy at secret locations. Then, on the day of the decision, we presented our results. Max proudly showed his video: 15 minutes of black image. "What's that?" - "My mast from the inside at full speed!" - "Fabulously stupid!" Now my recording: 15 minutes of bright flickering. "Underwater mounting on the fin!" - "You can't see anything either, great!" said Max and concluded: "Rubbish completed, draw! For this time ..."
- Tips for slightly better positioning can be found here: Shooting surf videos - Nico Prien gives tips on camera, mounting and perspectives
More from Tommy Brandner:
- Under-80s or over-80s? Diets for windsurfers
- A visit to the tuning workshop for windsurfers
- Motorhome for beginners
- Attention drone!
- Through the shorebreak
- The avalanche of traffic jams is rolling again
- Happy B-Day, King!
- Used is still too expensive
- That was 2023
- To foil or not to foil
- Faster, faster, faster... or: Who is this Lüderitz anyway?
- Windy stories
- The handsome Hansi
- AI hysteria
- News from the Spocht
- Get fit without training
- Madhouse on the beach
- What do fish actually think about windsurfers?
- Loop into the headline
- Great season!
- Afternoon at the (windsurfing) museum - tidying up made easy
- Djinn Drake, the windsurfing genie in a bottle
- The meeting of the "anonymous climbers"
- The greatest invention in windsurfing history
