DIY selfie stick in a backpack

One of the things I love about windsurfing in  the winter is, it is all about the experimentation. Yes, people have developed the sleds that work on ideal ice, but ice n snow here are ALWAYS far from ideal. The ice is too rough for such sleds, there is too much snow, etc, etc

With the first ice sled that I made, I was NOT careful enough and busted my left shoulder during the first trial run. Since then I have learned to be more careful... The current ice sled I am using works quite well and I typically use a HotSailsMaui Fire 6.3 sail, which happens to be my smallest recent sail and is rarely used in the summer...

My first selfie stick was made with a wooden broom handle and was shaved to fit boom. It broke at that point and I lost a GoPro 4. Luckily there are now cheaper options like the Pictek used in this video. The angle was meant for me to see how the sled works with the hopes that the background shows up. It shows the ride VERY well, but with no background. Just the same, I am calling it a success - cost me about $20 ... and less than one hour to put together...

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Since people DO seem interested  in HOW i made the selfie "pack", let me explain ...
First I started with a smaller backpack and ideally with 2 zippers in order to close the opening from both sides - NOT sure if all packs come like that now ...

Originally I had thought to make the back plate out of wood. Then the consideration  was - what if I want to try this in water ??? Need something out of plastic ... A cutting board that just fits in the bag would be IDEAL ...

In the above photo, the PVC pipe was already installed. The next consideration was - how big of a PVC pipe to put ?? Wanted the GoPro handlebar mount to fit and the PVC NOT to be too flexible ie NOT move around too much ... 3/4 inch pipe fit the bill and so only needed one ten foot length (cut at the store so as to fit in car) , one 45 degree angle, some PVC glue , U clamps to bolt to the board AND nuts n bolts ... Made the long bar four feet for now - can always shorten it - that's about 1.2 meters.

After everything has been carefully glued in a WELL ventilated area and dried in the house where it is warmer ... The entire contraption was put back in the backpack, tied all up nice n neat and the first trial run was done 😏 

Since the video above showed the rider and the area around him\me ... I decided to try and make something where one could see both rider and landscape - or angle the camera up more ...

This added some weight when I tried making a demo tape .. It showed me which angles might work. In order to reduce complexity, weight and do next experiment, I will cut the TEE from the bottom - allowing the possibility of putting it back with a coupling ...

So far this winter - all in 2017 for the 2016/2107 winter season, I have been out on the ice n snow ten (10) times with the following information: 

I presume with the last dump of 1.5 feet of snow (great for kiters) and temps going UP, my winter season is over ... Now I will have approximately one month off - most windsurfers from this area and from Toronto are planning their trips to Hatteras in this period !!! Great start to the 2017 season !!