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.