BWE's New Toy

[madscientist]

I know Adi and OEX put a lot of work into this and the concept is a fine one. However, I must admit to being a little upset that the field of view is so focused on the launch area. It's kind of creepy knowing that you are potentially being watched every time you load/unload, and as we've already seen, people and vehicles are easily recognizable. I wonder if it would be possible to angle it out more, so that those that may not want to be on camera could easily avoid the field of view. Otherwise, it seems somewhat intrusive to force us all to be on what is essentially a worldwide live feed as we make use of a public access area. Several other people I know share this concern.

[nmbrinkman]

Finally figured out how to view the feed. Thanks guys for setting this up. I kinda like the field of view seeing as I don't catch enough fish to fear advertising them . On a more serious note, I find myself using the launch in the afternoons and I like the idea of being able to judge the crowds beforehand. Not to mention the tail and trainwrecks that it attracts.. JMO though.

[MKNOTT]

I think the camera is great. I'm sure it will be used by many on a boring day at work, AND DEFINITLY for that last min looks before a PM. You could always launch at Bird Rock Brad . Seriously though, I highly dought anybody will use the camera for criminal intent. Maybe my X-Wife, I guess I'll have to walk along the fence if I think she is looking. MKNOTT

[Handymansd]

Brad, your concern is legit, but I think you just want to keep everyone from finding out that you bring all those , and WSB, and Halibut, and Threshers, and.... well you get the idea, with you!lol

[Brian Sanner]

Very cool. I am planning on hitting up LJ in the november/December months and it is nice to be able to see the beach and surf conditions beforehand. The view is cool and like to see all those tourists on rented yaks wreck in the surf .

[Louis Clarke II]

It is and will be well appreciated…

Louis & Clarke

[wavster]

You can't stop the world from looking. Paparrazzi are everywhere....

Try bass fishing. No cameras there!

[fishfinder]

Guess no more bong hits in the car :t he_finger:

[dorado50]

I went out this morning and found myself hugging the pilings so as to not be on cam. Don't no why but I did feel as though I was being "watched". I for sure did'nt want to be seen "crashing" going out or coming in!! Paranoia in the early stage.Maybe if I bring in a decent fish I'll feel different, we'll see...........

[DBITE]

Nice!! I had been using the beach club's web cam but it's focused a bit south of the launch. This is much better.

[lamb]

Cool, I didn't have a clue about their webcam. Good to know.

I haven't had much luck with it's video since yesterday morning. It is probably just down temporarily:

http://www.ljbtc.com/default.aspx?p=...&pageid=228655

[TomTurtle]

thanks a lot guys- now i have another reason i can't get anything done at work

[lambadmin]

A thing to note - the webcam has an IR, but it's not that great in the pitch darkness. It's OK when the lights on the hotel are on, and I'm hoping it will be somewhat OK with the moonlight. We're yet to see that.

But keep in mind - now that we have this webcam, we can always get more expensive camera and the webserver that can reeeeeally see in the dark... $$$ is the only problem, but if all of us pitch in a little?? I'd be willing

I'm very happy to see the overwhelmingly positive response to the camera.

What it took was:

... a big pile of $$$ provided by OEX. THANK YOU!

... an awesome patronage from La Jolla Shores Hotel. Please remember this and cut down the noise and volume on your stereo when pulling in to launch at 4:00 AM . A ton of emails back and forth, multiple meetings. THANK YOU!

... 5 quotes from different Video Equipment Installation companies. Another ton of emails back and forth, hours on the phone and meetings explaining what's really important that this camera has. Big thanks to DVSS Video Security folks for delivering what we need. Great folks to deal with, professional and dependable. Big thank you to David Lugan - http://www.dvss.net/

... hours of configuring it all, days/weeks of test driving and fine tunning.

I'd like to thank to all the folks that helped out with the initial feedback, before it was announced on the board.

I'd also like to thank the WCW gang for being the Guinea pigs once we released it. Muchos gracias.

Brad's concern is a legit but I'd say very very remote.

We initially had the camera pointed more West along those wooden pilings...



Then we decided to move it up and more North, to cover more of the beach and the waterline. Keep in mind that the breaking swell will be moving further and closer to the webcam depending on the tides. We tried to have it pointed so it covers all the tide extremes.

For people that have a problem being on camera when launching and landing - as OEX said, there's a plenty of space closer to wooden pilings that is out of the webcam range. A second or two you'd be on the camera while passing should not be enough time for someone to actually recognize and ID your car, especially in the dark when we're launching most of the time. Be rest assured the camera was not put out there so we can see you - we're interested in swell, waves, wind and the general conditions at the launch. BWE and OEX believe that information is what will be helpful to the kayak fishing community, and that the benefits heavily outweigh the remotely possible bad things.

Personally, I doubt the thieves will be excited that they can now use the webcam to recognize the cars. I can't imagine them being all high tech, getting up at 4:00 AM to sit in front of their computer and "mark" the cars they're going to rob. If they're up for the dirty business, I would think they'd be much more inclined to actually be there at the ramp and see us launching - something we can't prevent anyways.

[madscientist]

Who said anything about thieves? But a non-trivial concern none the less.

It is not always possible to hug the pylons, depending on crowd or tide.

I think the original positioning was better, as people could just head north if they wanted to avoid the camera.

I was initially taken aback as the very first images I was shown clearly showed a fellow WCWer at the launch, with the surf barely visible. Perhaps that made me focus on the "spycam" aspect.

If looking at blurry tourist tail on that camera is your thing, there are much better websites out there that cater to that kink (and all the others)lol.

The dirty little secret is that there is almost never surf at LJ. Seriously, in almost 3 years and over 500 launches at LJ I have never turned back or even doubted if I could get out/back through the surf. Developing the skills and confidence to deal with surf is part of the challenge and part of the unique thrill of kayak fishing for ocean big game. As Andy has pointed out, if it gets too easy it loses some of its allure (I'm paraphrasing).

The technical accomplishment is superb. Well done Adi!

[Corey]

[Aaron&Julie]

Outstanding work

We love it. Just wish we could get out and use it's benefits.

Thanks.

[lambadmin]

MS and WS,

You guys really like each other...

This is the camera parade thread, please.

[wavster]