Drone!

Ever since our dear friend, Ryan, spent nearly three months with us back in 2017, flying his drone – launching from terra firma and from my hand while at sea – and taking amazing photographs of the places we sailed together, Rand wanted a drone. So he bought one the following spring. Then, three months later, he found himself diving into the sea to retrieve it after the battery went from full up to dead because of a software glitch. Luckily, Rand had the foresight to buy the unforeseen-circumstances-insurance, so DJI replaced the soggy one for a nominal cost (compared to what he paid for a brand new one). Needless to say, once he got the replacement, he was a little gun shy about flying the drone, but over time, he got up the gumption and sent it up again and again. There was/is definitely a learning curve, but he’s getting pretty proficient at it now.

Early on when drafting blog posts, I would inevitably forget about the drone footage, so a bunch of our videos didn’t include any of it. But I’m learning. Our future videos will certainly contain the amazing sights seen from a bird’s-eye view, but until the next post, we’ll leave you with a smattering of old stuff – some of which is shaky, and/or the transitions are janky, and the horizon is not always horizontal; this is partly due to a novice operator and/or software glitches. But the more recent shots are better and the transitions smoother, thanks to Rand getting more experience, gaining more confidence, and, of course, software updates. Enjoy!