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Written By Elzette

Before I could barely swallow my last sip of take away coffee for the morning - I was standing in a FMX Freestyle legend’s backyard. His backyard is pretty impressive by the way and kitted out with ramps, berms and a surprisingly comfortable looking foam pit which I just wanted to jump into as soon as I saw it! For those of you who do not know – Nick de Wit is part of the Red Bull XFighters, GoPro athlete and:

• Is the first rider to regularly pull of backflips in South Africa (he’s actually the first non-American to do so);
• Achieved 5^th place in world rankings in 2006;
• Is no.1 in SA for 7 consecutive years;
• Have multiple podiums in world championships.

 

 Impressed yet? Well, we got to see him in action as he took his bike to the skies with teeth clenching tricks and flips. The first thing that came to my mind was – “crap, this guy’s poor mother”. But he landed his flips perfectly and we did manage to help him strap a GoPro to his helmet and bike tail before he took flight. Here are a few stuff we chatted to Nick about:

In September 2013 Nick de Wit executed a stunt that hasn’t been done in Africa before, alongside Aerial Acrobat, Glen Del. It was named the Red Bull OVER UNDER Project and involved Glen flying his Extra 300 aerobatics aircraft low enough for Nick to ramp his bike over it. Sadly - a month later, Glen died after a crash at the Secunda airshow. But they have achieved a phenomenal feat, which took two years to plan before executing perfectly. This video will give you chills!

Nick also featured on Carte Blanche when doing a backflip over Derek Watt’s head!

 Elzette: I think we can all agree that what you do is pretty dangerous. We’d just like to know ONE thing – how many bones have you broken in comparison with GoPro cameras?

Nick: Laughs. GoPro is a very sturdy camera, I have definitely broken more bones than I have cameras. With the camera I can just dust it off when it falls and carry on – not so much with my body. That’s also why it’s so important to train (which some don’t always understand). You have to train your body to not only be fit but also to be able to take the punches.

Elzette: So, what you are saying is that you’ve taken a few falls in your life?

Nick: THAT’s why I wear a lot of protective clothing and pads when I ride but the most important ones are my CTI knee braces and my fox boots , pants, shirt and RedBull helmet. I never get on a bike without all my gear on. 

Elzette: What do you like doing when you’re not hitting the ramps and giving your mother a heart attack?

Nick: I actually love mountain biking and I keep those two wheels firmly grounded – no tricks, just riding! I also enjoy hiking and anything outdoors! The other day we did the Wings for life World Run where A total of 35 397 runners in 32 countries started at precisely the same time, racing ahead of a catcher car instead of towards a finish line. We had so much fun!

 Elzette: You're pretty successful, where to from here? I’d like to see a back-belly flip from a submarine please…

Nick: Almost chokes. Yea I have accomplished a lot of my dreams and goals in this sport but that's the beauty of it. The sky is the limit and I am working on a lot of stuff. Not only tricks but projects and events that will grow and motivate people in the sport. For the submarine trick – why not – I’ll give anything a try! Laughs

Because we were so inspired by him, we thought you might follow suit, so we threw together a Nick de Wit bundle of which you will receive a FREE signed hat from Nick. Remember – the sky is the limit!

Written By Elzette

With the development of action footage and quadcopters alike, the market is starting to see very innovative ways to combine the two for a more user friendly experience. Take the AirDog for instance, which sets out to solve the problem of having your action camera strapped to you (we don't mind that, of course - and this will take away the POV shot which everyone came to love so much).

Latvian startup, Aerospace Industries, introduced AirDog this week - a fully autonomous personal action sports drone, which might look like an old concept. BUT, this little gadget only requires you to wear a wrist-strapped controller called AirLeash that the AirDog will follow. It can take off and land automatically, and whilst following the action, uses gyro stabilisation technology to ensure the subject is always in frame.

 

“You can take it everywhere. Fold it down, put in your back pack and go wherever you want. Then turn it on, put on the ground, strap the tracker on wrist or helmet and with push of a button it will take off and start following you in desired altitude and angle,” explains Helico founder Edgars Rozentals. “We are putting technology that used to be available only for pros and rich into hands of every sports enthusiast.”

(Update: You wait all year for an autonomous aerial camera drone to arrive and two turn up at once. According to Tech Crunch - launched on Kickstarter is the Hexo+, which has already reached its crowdfunding target.) Is this the future of the technology?

Written By Elzette

We know it's a while back (2011 to be exact) but this video still makes us smile every time we watch it. One of our customers, Johan Gray - filmed the entire thing with his Drift Action Camera, firmly mounted on his helmet during the Amageza Run Qualifier.

Johan encounters a calf stuck in a canal - briefly spotting him from the road and turns around to see what can be done. Watch the video on how Johan saves this little animal and returns him to its owner (even taking him on a quick bike ride while his at it - why not?)

Well Done Johan, so glad to see how the simple acts of goodwill can bring joy to people.

Written By Elzette

We like taking things to the next level and you can imagine our excitement when we started selling the DJI Phantom quadcopter in 2013. The fact that this little gadget could take footage to new heights and lower production costs really got us on board. Sales across the nation rapidly increased in 2014 and before long – those little eyes in the sky weren’t all that unusual.

But the quadcopter situation in South Africa has been getting a lot of attention, especially from the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA). 

What is a Quadcopter or drone?

Also classified as UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), drones or quadcopters are aircraft that fly without a pilot and can be controlled remotely by someone on the ground. Strap a GoPro or other camera to it and you have the capability of capturing some amazing aerial footage – without taking to the sky yourself. With the introduction of the Zenmuse 3D Gimbal, the DJI Phantom quadcopter even has the capability to allow remote control of roll, pitch angling. The sky is the limit! Or is it?

Model aircraft policy for drones in South Africa

Despite the ban which was announced in the beginning of June (which is only applicable to commercial and not personal use) , we have seen a 200% increase in sales over the past few weeks The biggest we've seen yet! But it seems the SACAA has come back stating it is NOT illegal and NOT banned (yet).

The SACAA states: “Currently there are no regulations in place to enable and regulate operations of UAS in South African civil airspace. In accordance with the Civil Aviation Act, 2009 (Act No. 13, of 2009).

The SACAA would once more like to reiterate that currently there are no guidelines or regulations that can help define and as such regulate the use of unmanned aircraft systems. This is a concern that the organisation is working towards addressing as soon as possible. Further, the SACAA has made an undertaking to have an interim guidance document as a provisional solution to enable restricted operational approval of UAS on a case-by-case basis until regulations are in place. It is envisaged that the interim document will be completed before 31 March 2015, or sooner.

The interim document in question will address most of the issues that have been raised not only in south Africa, but are under consideration globally, for instance by the ICAO UASSG, and other international bodies. The SACAA is part of this ICAO Work Group.

In the meantime, the Regulator appeals to all stakeholders to err on the side of caution rather than risk unintended aviation disasters. Notwithstanding, we remain receptive to ideas that would contribute to the rapid development of a widely accepted regulatory framework.”

Written By Elzette

It was a squeaky broken cupboard that lead the infamous GoPro to a kitchen in Randburg where Action Gear founder, Warrick Kernes, resides. The carpenter who was firmly at work fixing the cupboard in question, saw Warrick’s GoPro on the kitchen table and excitedly ripped the same gadget out of his toolbox. In his hand he had a GoPro Hero Original and to him – it was something from another world! Hopefully he has found someone who can finally tell him what the heck it is.

 Warrick energetically points out what the camera does after the carpenter tells him where he found it. A year ago, he picked it up on the beaches of St Francis when on holiday with his family and he never quite knew what to do with it. Warrick offered to pay him R300 as well as his devoted efforts to find the owner. There’s nothing he takes more in his stride than a challenge!

 Warrick and fellow Action Gear director, David Davies, plugs the camera in to find it filled with some impressive surf footage. They came to see a young teenager paddling out on his surfboard - they now have a shot of the owner’s face! David phoned local newspapers in the Cape Town area to place the photo they found on the camera. We personally know the feeling that goes with losing a camera, but nothing compares to losing the once in a lifetime footage taken on that day and that’s why we even offered to deliver the camera for free.

Only a few days later, the teenager's aunt saw the article in a local newspaper and phoned the mother – it belongs to surf pro Dale Staples. This all happened in 2011 and today Dale Staples is an insanely talented professional athlete sponsored by Billabong, GoPro and VonZipper (just to mention a few). We could’ve called the talent on this one by only looking at the footage on his camera!

Out surfing with your GoPro can be pretty daunting, you have a massive investment strapped to your surfboard and let’s face it – the ocean likes to swallow shiny things! Dale used a suction surf mount which can be a bit unreliable. We recommend the GoPro Surf Mounting Kit – definitely a floaty backdoor to keep the little guy a float and as always, to strap your GoPro for extra protection – twice is always nice!

Check out the Glove-style wrist strap hand mount for surfing as well as the GoPole Reach!