Anyone flying drones off a TI?

When we were out on the water last weekend we saw some yachties flying a white drone around their boat, apparently filming themselves as they sailed.

A mate then sent me a link to this waterproof camera drone that you chuck in the air, it hovers and then follows your activity, based on a tracker you keep with you as a home base. It will film and apparently automatically switch to slo-mo if something cool happens.

http://www.wired.com/2015/05/lily-robotics-drone/

It's expensive (I could buy a spinnaker kit for the same money) but looks like a neat way to get sailing footage. Anyone here tried drone filming from their Islands?

edit: actually that company / startup is apparently under investigation but there are supposed to be others that do the same thing

I wish I had the funds to be able to afford a drone. I see lots of great footage from cruisers that have them.

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2015 Hobie Tandem Island Hibiscus
"Third Normal Form"

• Trampolines
• Hobie cover
• Davis Spar Fly
• Kayakbob's Sprayskirts
• Spine Board Hakas

This guy looks to be having fun. Not every has a Helipad on their kayak...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJdv2od269w


FE

it's strange cause the Lily drone is not on sale. though it was announced and started to collect funds 2 years ago this project is not yet completed and the deliveries didnt start yet. I think that subscribers are not very happy for this. at least these are the news i Have. from the presentation video it should be fantastic for us cause it doesnt require much attention. it is especially thought for exptreme sports when u usually are busy doing something as sailing, paddling, climbing, sunning ...
it can fly for 20 minutes around u and when u push a button it will come back to u. probably being so close to the water (and salt!) could be a great risk for these electronics. for sure i would not the first to try it when it will be sold. i think that normal drones requires too much attention if u want to enjoy your sailing.

I believe that unless a drone has a well-developed "follow me" function (based on orientating with something like the user's wristband), there would need to be an operator in charge of the drone (and not involved in sailing). All drone footage I have seen has had an operator on board (look closely).

It should be possible with a 2 person crew in a TI, using a tramp for takeoffs and landings. I have a cheapie drone, and I would not even consider getting on-water footage. The other needed function is GPS position hold, so that if all else fails, you can "park" the drone hovering, and collect it afterwards.

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

I agree that the marketing materials for Lily look fantastic. I was so taken that I pre-ordered one. I canceled in January because the delivery date was repeatedly pushed back and some of the comments in this video (nearly 15 minutes long) made me uneasy:



The refund took about a month to process.

Trying to break my early-adopter habit.

I do hope the Lily turns into a real proposition, because it seems just right doesn't it?

Sadly, I think the criticisms made in that video seem valid.

But I don't think the Lily comes close to meeting the capability of current offerings like the DJI Phantom 4, which offers automatic object avoidance, target recognition (latch on to a target and follow it) return to base on the push of a button, or intelligently auto returning when sensing battery levels are critical(!), circling a designated point of interest, automatic landing, very precise hovering etc. The Phantom is able to achieve these feats due to there being two horizontal sensors looking ahead, and another two looking down, giving the onboard computer spacial recognition capability. Some of these functions have only just been released from military spec (who knows where it will end!)

On the other hand, I am watching the steady arrival of clones of the DJI Phantom, and it looks like there are at least a couple of contenders offering similar functionality but for well below half the price..

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Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker

The Traxxas Aton is the one I'm interested in. My brother has one and I've flown it. Very stable! I just have to convince my wife to let me spend the money.

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2015-Tandem Island

I fell in love with Lily when I first saw it. Would have been perfect for our fleet and our travels on various rivers. But, alas, funding is difficult with many other priorities.

Sad to hear they are having problems on delivery.

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2012 Outback with sail / 2012 Outback / 2013 11' Revo / 2006 16' Adventure (no AKAs)

I've got a Phantom 2 and 3 and have wanted to get footage of sailing the TI. I haven't risked taking off and landing on the tramps as there are too many things that can go wrong, but I have thought about taking the remote along with me, then taking off video and land it on the beach while sailing and come back to retrieve it. Haven't worked up the guts to do it, but in theory it should work fine. Also thought about getting it in the air using the object tracking, then launch the TI and have it follow and when the battery gets below 20% it will return to home (beach) and land itself. Again, in theory it would work fine, but I haven't tried that yet either.

We used a Phantom to shoot our Island Club get together this summer near Omaha. The pilot stayed on the beach.
Jim
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4IXTZ64aMA

This is an awesome video!

I'm getting a little more confident over water with my Phantom, I made this vid at our last boat race. (toy boats lol). The new DJI Mavic looks amazing it's on my wish list, it can lock on to an object or person from different camera angles.
http://youtu.be/bZBVHLW6EbY


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On the bank of the Bow River

That is pretty cool too! Looks like a lot of fun.