Project Birs - The Legend of the Eurydice

The second day startet good. The weather was fine and I was really looking forward to this spectacular part of the project that I had right before me.
As the GoPro was lost, I replaced it with the new, glorious Runcam that I've ordered shortly before the project started and I fixed what was broken during the first day.

Then I took the train and went to Court where I've ended the first day. Almost immediately I put the boat into the water and started off.
The first part was still calm and mostly reachable. I thought of nothing bad and was certain to already have good video sequences. Then I took the boat out of the water to cross a big street and put it back in afterwards. From then on the misery had its way.
The hiking path that was marked right aside of the river trough all the valley was acutally right aside of the river but with a lot of hight difference whitch forced me to climb on steep terrain going up and down whenever the boat was in some kind of misery.
The first time such a misery occured was some few meters after I've put the boat back into the water. The hiking path led over a rocky wall whilst the river past almost underneath it. Therefore I could not see nor steer the boat and just saw from afar how it was thrown upside down by some obstacle in the water. I ran further till it was again possible to climb down and access the river. There I found a dam on which the boat was stuck.
I had to cross the knees deep water and find myself a long enough stick to get the boat back to shore. There I checked it, put everything pack in place and put it in the water shortly after the dam.
My approach to follow the river was shortly after interrupted by a bushy under wood that almost hung into the water. I had to climb halfway to the hiking path to be able to walk and lost sight of the Eurydice again. It was just every now and then that I saw her wild red appearing shimmering in the glittering water.
Not after long - the water was fast and turbulent - she turned upside down again. I climbed down but was to slow to reach her. Running to not lose sight of her I was wondering how I could ever manage all the twenty kilometers ahead of me.

Eventually I saw her turning herself up again. Thanks to a good weight management she preferred to sit in the water as she was meant to but still I saw her moving strangely. She even reacted slower to the commands of the radio control that I was still using whenever possible to make her cross white water as smoothly as possible.
I was now pushing myself trough bushes and plants alongside the waterside. I only saw the boat occasionally and was too busy finding my way to be able to steer her. Several times she got stuck and several times I had to go into the water or find a stick to put her back on track. My legs were already starting to hurt.
After another turn the river got wider and was calmer. It was still quite fast but with way less rocks sticking out of it and smoother over the steeper passages. Unfortunately the riverside was wilder and the bushes grew thicker so at a certain point I saw my boat disappearing around a turn while I was stuck in some thorny tendrils.
As I've freed myself I ran as fast as somehow possible but couldn't find the Eurydice any more. She seemed to have vanished in thin air. I crossed the river and to my anger found a way right on the other side of it. I ran back on this side to see the parts of the river that were too close before but still couldn't find her. Somewhat tired and exhausted I decided to move on and finish todays stage.

At around three o'clock I arrived in Delemont where I finished this hike. No Boat, tired and sad I took the train back home and went to bed.


One day later I went out to rescue the Eurydice. I took my drone with me and flew over the river from the last place on where I've seen her. Then I made my way down towards Moutier. The waters were wild and there were many places I could not see from the riverside nor from above as the trees and bushes were blocking my way.
I found three basins of water which I decided for myself could not be passed by the Eurydice in her actual status and so I narrowed down the search area accordingly. Still I had no luck and went home empty handed.

Some time later, when the water level was lower I went to that place again. This time without any electronics but with my bathing suit. As I arrived I went into the water and walked down all the way to the three basins I described before. Every depth was explored and at every turn I imagined whether or not the boat could have passed by itself after this time. Still I could not find the Eurydice. It seemed as if she was sunken to the ground and then down into another universe.

About a month later I finally managed to convince my girlfriend to walk down the "gorges de court" and to see this beautiful part of Jura. It took us about an hour and as we arrived at the place where I lost the Eurydice I looked down into the water and immediately wanted to go and see if I could find her. Fortunately my girlfriend was tired and wanted to finish the hike and take the train home. All the beauty of this valley could not impress her enough to stand for hours aside of a river while her maniac boyfriend was looking for a stupid boat. So we went on on the path and I only looked down occasionally as all of a sudden I saw her. Dirty and broken but still shining bright red was she lying high above the water where I would have never looked for her.
I don't know if somebody had found her and took her up or how she got there but I finally had her again.

Project Birs - Day 1

There was no camera. Of course the DSLR-Camera of my girlfriend was there but it's way to heavy to be put on my boat and also slightly expensive in case anything goes wrong. What could I do in my misery? I went to the next best electronics store and found a half prized GoPro 7 White. Seen, bought, brought home, charged and glued it's socket on the boat. As soon as it was ready I took the train to Tavannes and wandered off to the source of the Birs.


From there on the river passes the town of Tavannes. Either trough private property or underground so I could not use the boat.
Shortly before I left Tavannes the river resurfaced and I put the boat in it. I tested the steering and turned on the GoPro. The boat left and I had to run around a building because of a fence that I could not climb and as I was at the river again, the boat was gone. I ran down the river looking here and there but it had just disappeared. After some I found a branch hanging deep over the water I did not believe that the boat had passed here without getting stuck so I ran all the way back to where I left it. There I finally found it stuck on a piece of wood. Before I was standing on the other side of the river so I did not see it. Now I freed it and together we went for a short distance all happy and peacefully.

Then the river took a sharp turn and after that was a little waterfall. I placed the boat so it would not go trough the wildest part but I made a mistake and so the boat turned over and did not turn back up. The weight of the GoPro on its socket kept the boat in position.

I had to run back, cross the river by a bridge, fight trough a whole lot of bushes before I reached the boat and could put it upright.
From then on it turned several times. Always on the other side of the river of course and always when there was wild water or a branch of wood. I ended up walking trough the cold water so I could reach it as the last bridge was too far.
As the Eurycide got stuck under a three that was hanging over the water, I did not think much but shook it from the riverside. The Boat turned upside down and went further. By the time I managed to catch it, the GoPro was gone. I walked inside the river up to where the boat has been stuck before but there was no GoPro. I walked down in the river and tried to follow the stream but I could not find it anymore.


After a while I decided to leave the water again. It was the beginning of March after all so the water was still cold and my sneakers and trousers where all wet. I did not have shoes or trousers to change with me as I thought mobility might be key. So far, this was a good decision. My trousers dried quickly and the shoes did not bother me much after the water in them warmed up.
Anyways the loss of the gopro with all the video that I've made so far was quite demotivating and I was not sure wether to go to the next trainstation and abort it all or to continue with just the DSLR and take some pictures of the boat while driving it.

As the Trainstation was on the same way as I wanted to go anyways, I put the boat without any camera in the water again and went on. Surprisingly the boat was stable as can be in any rough water. A point that I knew before but didn't really consider: keep the weight as deep in the boat as possible. The GoPro-Socked is propably the worst solution for an RC-Boat ever.

As I reached Reconvillier I had to take the boat out of the water and carry it through the town as the river went cross the railroad and then passed a steep valley which I could not pass.
By the time I reached the trainstation I was too proud to give up. I went on leaving Reconvillier and followed the Birs as close as possible. Whenever I could I put the boat in the water but it prooved difficult to take pictures and steer the boat at the same time Luckily I still managed to get some pictuers.

Project Birs

After a long abstinence from this project, I revived it rather unconsciously by buying a boat.
Understanding how a boat works and what it is depending on should help me understand what is important to build the fuselage of the kingfisher. Also, RC-Boats are made from different materials than RC-Planes so I see some new things there as well.

The boat that I bought was the Riverine Patrol Boat made by Pro Boat. I was insecure wether to buy this one or the Alpha Patrol Boat but the Riverine seemed to be less difficult to modify and did not have spaces where water would collect and stay. Instead it has a little ramp for vehicles to come on board. I might use that in the future.

For now I did some minor modifications mostly in design and then painted it red. The name was given by my girlfriend and it's "Eurydice", coming from greek mythology.

The project followed soon after. I had one week of holidays planned and in this time I then planned to follow a river from its source to it's end. Therefore I chose a river that was not too long and maybe a bit adventurous.
The river is called Birs. Its source is in Tavannes in the bernes part of Jura from where it passes as a mere brook through the valleys.

The Birs is 75km long so my idea was to do 15km a day. This way I have it done in five days and I have enough time to handle the boat.

To record my journey I thought of my Runcam 2 That I put in a transparent Tupperware. This way it's protected from water while still filming. As I received the Tupperware that I had to order online - no store around sold see trough Tupperware - I realized that I could easily fit tow runcams on top of each other. How glorious, this way I had could film with one to the front and one to the back.

Inspired by this Idea I ordered a second Runcam 2 and more battery packs. Then I went to the test drive with the boat. It did not take on too much water and handled waves and turbulent water quite well. Unfortunately my old Runcam got wet and broke beyond repair while the new one was not yet delivered. It was one day before the project was supposed to start.