Southern Africa social group gathering - Page 13

Kobus_Joubert · #**361** Fri 08 July 2011, 05:11

Thank's... believe it or not I have travelled a lot, but NEVER in Zim or Botswana.
I do plan a trip up to Namibia on the bike. Done it about 25 years ago with a friend on 2 motorbikes.
This time want to go up to Ruacana then via Caprivi to Vic Falls and back home through Botswana.

Gerald D · #**362** Wed 28 September 2011, 09:07

And we have had yet another shark attack today. This video after the attack still shows the shark hanging around: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pHj8_eDVcA

domino11 · #**363** Wed 28 September 2011, 10:00

Wow, would not want to meet that big guy!

Gerald D · #**364** Wed 28 September 2011, 21:23

A little about the locals:

Two men in their sixties who rescued a shark victim at Fish Hoek on Wednesday, told how they braved the blood-clouded water to bring him to safety.

Douglas Drysdale, 61, from Glencairn Heights, and Hugh Till, 66, from Fish Hoek were on their way home from Pollsmoor Prison, where they are voluntary spiritual guidance counsellors.

The two men, who were in one car, normally look out for whales as they round Clovelly Corner, said the NSRI's Craig Lambinon.

On Wednesday they saw a man, later identified as Michael Cohen, 43, swimming about 25m out to sea in the direction of Fish Hoek.

Then there was a dark shape, heading directly at him.

As the dark shape grew closer to the swimmer the two men realised it was a shark.

Drysdale and Till tried to warn the man, but they were too late, said Lambinon. He'd already been bitten by the shark and was struggling in the water, blood gushing from the wounds..

Human chain

Lambinon says the men kicked off their shoes and waded through the surf to reach the injured swimmer. Douglas had called the emergency services before plunging into the water.

When they reached the swimmer, Hugh grabbed him by the hand while Douglas pulled Hugh, dragging them both to shore.

Bystanders then started screaming at the men that the shark was now headed towards them.

It was about 10m away. Their luck held when a seal appeared and swam between the men and the shark.

As the men reached the beach one of the shark spotters immediately tied his belt around the stump of Cohen's severed right leg as a tourniquet.

The two men kept reassuring the victim as he waited for paramedics to arrive

Gerald D · #**365** Wed 28 September 2011, 23:29

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...can-beach.html

The 43-year-old is said to have swum regularly at Fish Hoek beach, notorious for Great White sightings, even telling fellow beachgoers: ‘If a shark takes me, then blame me, not the shark.’
Witnesses said he parked his car and then walked right past a flag indicating that the beach was closed.

At least two people warned him that a shark had been seen, but he strode into the water anyway.

He was moaning and crying and pleading with them, “Please help me, please help me”.

I couldn't care if he was a stupid tourist, but then the locals must put their lives at risk for him?

baseball43v3r · #**366** Thu 29 September 2011, 00:52

i see the water is very clear for such a populated area. The water where I live (coast of California) is very dirty and muddy. I've never seen the bottom of the ocean, even at 2 feet. Much could be said about that beautiful water you have over there Gerald!

Gerald D · #**367** Thu 06 October 2011, 05:31

My 37 minute commute to work this morning: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yff7Fb1qmdE

A friend built a little controller for my video camera - it captures a 3 second segment every minute. (therefore "compressed" 20X)

Foreigners often ask me if it is safe in South Africa, or if it is safe to drive here, or if we need a 4X4 to get around. Hope videos like this answer the questions. There is no editing of the video at all. Plan to capture some of the more popular routes....

CAM Craft · #**368** Thu 06 October 2011, 06:43

thats pretty smart. need to clean your window for sunrise shots

MetalHead · #**369** Thu 06 October 2011, 06:51

Cool - I think it is funny how folks think their country is the only one with paved roads !!!

. I had a freind from Ghana and everyone always asks him if the roads are paved !. I like that controller BTW cool !!

Gerald D · #**370** Thu 06 October 2011, 06:52

my window cleaner moved out

Alan_c · #**371** Thu 06 October 2011, 07:03

Now he's cleaning nappies

Kobus_Joubert · #**372** Thu 06 October 2011, 07:05

Wow son telling his dad to clean his window...brave man ...

Cannot watch Youtube at work, but it sounds interesting.
Maybe I can get it to record RT-66. I am waiting to hear from the bike rental company on a 1800 cc Honda Goldwing...all the way from Vegas to Chicago at a good price.

Gerald D · #**373** Thu 06 October 2011, 09:37

And then going home in the afternoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC2Pfh-wiDE (Yes that is a Dutch windmill at 36sec.)

Got to stop the reflections of the vent under the windscreen.....

Alan_c · #**374** Thu 06 October 2011, 10:12

Havent had a look at the video yet, but with experience of mounting cameras in aircraft, mount the camera as close as possible to the windscreen and fashion a cone shaped flag out of matt black card that you can fit between the camera lens and the windscreen, obviously the wide end of the cone must be wider that the lens view. Because the winscreen is angled you may be able to get away with just a piece of card below the lens, extending from lens to screen.

domino11 · #**375** Thu 06 October 2011, 11:06

Kobus, was that you passing in the center at 1:57 ?

smreish · #**376** Thu 06 October 2011, 11:52

If it was....he was nice enough to wave.

Gerald D · #**377** Thu 06 October 2011, 13:31

That's typical driver behaviour on our roads . . . . where safe, move over to let another guy overtake, and the other guy then "says" thank you.

Between cars and trucks it goes like this:
A moves over to the left to let B overtake,
B then flashes their hazard lights to say thank you
A flashes headlights to say it's a pleasure

baseball43v3r · #**378** Thu 06 October 2011, 13:39

Sigh that must be nice. Unfortunately here in California, you will get a much different wave, people are ignorant of indicators, and being passed isn't always an optional endeavor.

sailfl · #**379** Thu 06 October 2011, 17:15

Gerald,

Only problem I saw was that you and all the other cars are driving on the wrong side of the road.

It was nice to see the video of the installation of the tracking units.

normand blais · #**380** Thu 06 October 2011, 17:17

Realy nice place Gerald ,and no traffic .

Are you guys driving on the wro other side of the road . Kobus I hope you are use to drive the rig other side Be careful on your trip to the U.S.

hennie · #**381** Thu 06 October 2011, 22:52

Our Cars steering wheels are also on the wrong side

Gerald D · #**382** Thu 06 October 2011, 23:07

I plan to make a couple of these videos, and I will include some of the bad parts too.

CAM Craft · #**383** Fri 07 October 2011, 00:40

it would be interesting to do champmans peak with more regular recordings per minute

And also to connect to a Bike in the cape Argus for 3sec for every 2min

Gerald D · #**384** Fri 07 October 2011, 01:56

Sean, the GoPro camera has become very popular. (Daniel got one for his birthday (today)). That camera can be set to shoot still pictures at time intervals of your choice, or it can shoot continuous videos. (I am seeing a couple of motorcyclists with them around the peninsula).

While one can assemble all the still shots into a video, it is not the same as video scenes assembled into the video. (eg. the motorcyclist's wave would have been meaningless)

When GoPro does a camera that can take video snippets at fixed time intervals, then I want one for Xmas! Now there is a heavy hint for the family and I know a family member is reading this!

CAM Craft · #**385** Fri 07 October 2011, 04:06

haha

now the problem is remembering your hint

Gerald D · #**386** Sat 08 October 2011, 09:25

A scenic drive today.

Low-definition video 35MB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQCf6J1TIXc
High-Definition video 120MB http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S62oPfQ77wk

(another car with a whole set of reflection problems - will start work on that aspect soon)

Oh, those old cars are because a club had an outing today - they are not typical!

Gerald D · #**387** Sat 08 October 2011, 09:33

Youtube compressed my HD .wmv file and it don't look to good and it is much smaller than 120MB now!

Anybody know how to get decent quality at youtube?

Alan_c · #**388** Sat 08 October 2011, 12:42

Nice videos Gerald, another simple solution you can try for the reflections is a piece of matt black cloth (black velvet works well) on the dash.

kaartman · #**389** Sun 09 October 2011, 23:09

Mooie Kaap, ek verlang nou huistoe, nice video Gerald

Surfcnc · #**390** Mon 10 October 2011, 18:34

Hi Gerald

Chilling video of the shark, those Great Whites are just such a machine, eating machine that is. It does not look even the slightest bit guilty after ripping that guys leg off either.

Your travel videos were also a great insight into your home territory.
Correct me if I'm wrong but my guess is you don't plan on moving anytime soon, it is a very picturesque place.
The Gopro HD cams are also very popular in the surf fraternity, a body boarder friend of mine has one on his helmet when he goes surfing to record his waves.
We were all impressed by the quality of the videos the little camera produces.

Cheers
Ross