Sailing beneath the San Mateo Bridge

This past weekend saw a little bit of a break from home life. I had wanted to do the Vallejo Race up in the north bay, but couldn't get the two days free to get up there and back. That was ok, I managed to make some headway on the long neglected electrical parts of Dayspring. This was instigated by two main concerns. One the electrical was completely non-functional and my desire for a stereo on board. The battery installation when the boat came into my hands was actually dangerous. The battery (weighing approximately 60+ lbs ) was not secured in anyway, resting upon one of the quarter berths it was free to slide around. I can think of a couple of scenarios with this ending badly, one with a sunken boat and another with severe acid burns. Regardless, it is sorted now.

The stereo is one of the Dual marine units which has no moving parts, using smart media or USB thumb drives to play music from. The running lights are working and I am looking forward to a night sail once it is warmer.

The above video was shot with my GoPro and a new GE DV1 waterproof pocket HD camera. I expect to write up a review of the new camera, but here are some quick thoughts.

#1, The highest quality setting (1920 x 1080) appears to have a fair amount of pixel artifacts (pixelization)

#2 it is super easy to use and can capture still images at 5 megapixels while recording video.

#3, is at least water resistant as I subjected it to a lot of salt water spray (rinsed it in fresh afterward)

#4, the viewing screen is difficult to see when viewed from off axis ( from the side)

#5, I wish the wide was wider.