26 May 20264:34827 views on YouTubeWatch on YouTube
Two first attempts happen in the same session here, and both of them are the kind of thing that usually goes badly. One is a board built out of components from different generations of gear. The other is a brand new drone in the hands of a pilot flying it for the first time, over water, with an expensive camera hanging off it.
Parts that were not made to go together
The rig is a 160 Camber Pro up front with a 36 inch Glide behind it, on a Lift Five Pro mast, mounted to a 4 foot 8 LiftX board. Nothing in that list was designed with the rest of the list in mind, which is the whole point of the build. Assembled anyway, it turns into a carving ride good enough to be called the current favourite. If you are considering mixing generations of Lift hardware rather than buying a matched package, this is a worked example of it paying off.
Flying the Antigravity A1 for the first time
Laura takes the Insta360 Antigravity A1 up, with the stated goal for the day being to not crash it. What comes out of the flight is a useful lesson about the aircraft rather than about the rider: it works best close to the subject, and the footage improves as it comes down. Under about thirty feet is where the interesting shots live. The tracking and Sky Mapping features are still ahead of them, so treat this as the baseline that later drone footage on the channel gets measured against.
Two cameras, two points of view
The drone is only half the coverage. The rest comes from an Insta360 X5 mounted on the hip with an invisible selfie stick, which is what gives you the low, close, on the water angle while the drone handles the wide view. Running both at once is the practical answer to filming yourself when there is only one other person available, and one of them is busy piloting.
The track over the top
The carving runs play out under “You Are Not a Monster”, written and composed by Stephan and performed by Raster Ops, originally recorded for his 2022 book series. It is offered free to download and use on your own eFoiling content, along with the rest of the library, at verdantride.com.
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