Page 34 of The Sailor in Polynesia
He nodded, and I started the blades and revved the drone up. Jonas’s hair blew against his head, and he squeezed his eyes shut. “Okay, let go!”
Jonas did and I pushed the joysticks to get the drone to fly up and out to sea. The drone hovered over the water, twenty feet or so from the bow, and I peered at the screen of my phone to get oriented.
While I worked the joysticks and positioned the camera just right, Jonas leaned over my shoulder to watch me work.
“Okay, let’s get back in the cockpit so we aren’t in the shot,” I said. Jonas followed me back to the helm and we sat close to each other. “Have you ever flown a drone before?” I asked him.
“No.”
“Do you want to?”
“Ahh...”
I grinned at his reluctance. “It’s not that scary, I promise. Here.”
I handed him the controller and he fumbled to get his grip right.
“Mia! You cannot let me fly your drone! What if I crash it?”
“You’ll be fine. It’s actually really easy, I promise. The drone I have is a lot simpler than most.” I showed him how to make the basic moves, forward, backward, spin the camera.
“Do you have any drone pictures ofEik?”
Jonas shook his head, eyes glued to the controls.
“Okay, let’s set the altitude for one hundred and twenty feet. That way you’ll be above your mast.” I showed him how to do it. “Now, set the shot however you want to.”
Jonas thought for a minute and then flew the drone overEik. He tried to pivot the camera back to the boat, but couldn’t find it. “Mia! Where is the boat? How did I lose the boat?” He was frantically panning the camera around.
I chuckled. “Okay, deep breath. See that map here?” I pointed at the screen. “That’s where the drone is in relation to us. So move the camera slowly back... right there. See, there she is!”
Jonas said something under his breath in Norwegian and tried again to get the drone in the right spot. Looking over his shoulder, I could see that he’d framedEikin the shot, andWelinawas visible behind her.
“You think here?” he asked me.
“Hm. Try backing up a little bit, making the boats smaller. Okay. Now, what about moving a little bit to the left so the boats aren’t overlapped? It looks likeEikhas another mast.”
He made the adjustments and I showed him how to take a picture. We worked together to take a dozen photos ofEikin the stunning blue waters of the lagoon.
The controller beeped at Jonas. “What did I do?”
I looked at the screen. “Oh, shiitake, the battery is low.” Jonas handed me the controller so I could get the drone back to the boat quickly.
“Was it full when we started?”
“Yeah, the batteries don’t last terribly long.”
“We did not get any pictures ofWelina.”
“That’s okay. I have another battery. But I need you to help me land the drone. Go stand on the bow and I’ll steer the drone to you. But don’t reach for it. Let it come to you and grab it when it’s low enough.”
Jonas stood on my bow, his arms outstretched, and waited for the drone to get to him. It beeped at me again. “Yes, yes, I know little guy. We’re almost there.”
Carefully, with the boat swinging on her anchor, I avoided the rigging and dropped the drone into Jonas’s reach.
“Got it,” he said.
I shut the blades down and Jonas put it on the deck. “Let me go get the other battery,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”
