Surfski Knowledge Base

Nicholas Cryder
Oct 17 #27841

Just putting a new idea out for discussion that I hit on recently for downwinding groups; conference calls on speaker.

Yes, this sounds absurd - but I recently tried it and was surprised how effective it is. The gist is that many of our modern phones are water resistant or waterproof, and now loud enough to be very legible even inside a zip lock bag. Most folks I know are on unlimited plans… so if you have a mesh front pocket on your PFD and you wear it high on your chest (recommended btw), you can start a group call, drop it in and off you go. It's crazy, but you can stay in hands-free audio contact the entire paddle (without hearing the paddle grunts).

Keeping tabs visually in big conditions can be extremely hard to do, and many times we paddle on different lines based on comfort level skill or at much different speeds. If someone does take a swim and you don't see it happen, you may not know for several minutes… but if they remount easily quickly there is no need to stop the rest of the group. If however said swimmer is rattled, struggling or dealing with a mechanical, the faster the rest of the group knows, the better the outcome. If you wonder why I am kinda nerdy on this stuff; I am the guy who has broken two paddles, three footboards, snapped rudder lines three times, broke a leash and even lost a rudder on different downwind runs over the years.

Disclaimer: I am not advocating group calls for every downwind paddle, but in situations where you have either a speed or skill disparity, you want to coach someone, a bigger group or conditions are at your threshold; this may be handy. So just putting this out there for others to try - let me know if this works for you too, and maybe we'll do a tutorial video and spread the word.

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Nicholas Cryder

Paul Reavley
Oct 17 #27842

Thanks Nicholas,

I would guess that the conference call deserves some experimentation. Some observations and questions:

We did an early morning downwinder yesterday and the wind was pretty consistently noisy. I have taken calls on the water that were understandable but I'm not sure how well I could have heard something yesterday (hearing is going to be more of a problem for some of us)

Most phone waterproof ratings fall at IPX7 (maybe a few at IPX8) - which I would not trust for downwinding without a case

Anything mounted on the chest needs to be tested with remounts - phones are pretty thin, but phones in cases with air? maybe not so thin. Does it interfere with a remount or are you going to be banging your phone/case harder than advisable? A lot can depend on your remount skill and strength (Denise keeps her VHF radio in her PFD back pocket on a tether)

Both Android and IOS have conferencing built into regular phone calls - I don't think they require cellular data. So that might be the first mode to try rather than a dedicated conferencing app that does require a data connection. (Our family plan does not have unlimited data)

The size of my Vaikobi split chest pockets is a problem for my phone in a soft case. Pullover PFDs with a single large pocket like Mockes or the Vaikobi Race PFDs will be better. I would be curious about any “dead” zones in anyone's phone coverage wherever we may paddle - realistic concern? or not a problem?