Seagulls must love stand up paddling, especially the BOP!

Try taking that photo through the crowd!
Imagine getting not only a front row seat to watch the Battle of the Paddle, but a birds eye view! With such a huge turnout to watch the race it's no wonder some guys decided to get a camera in the sky to film it all.

The boys from Aerial Media Pro's just released a little clip that might just go down in history as one of the coolest videos to ever come from the sport of Stand Up Paddling. Using some kind of multirotor (an RC helicopter with 4, 6 or 8 blades) with a camera strapped to the bottom, these guys have managed to capture a unique view of the action that would never be possible from any other means. 

Looking from above also gives a nice glimpse into the varying board shapes being used by stand up paddlers in the battle of the paddle racing. Widths vary, as do the nose shapes, deck layouts and interestingly, the wake patterns off the back of the board. All such things are hard to capture from the board, and even from a large boat motoring beside the paddler, it's not quite the same as hovering directly above. 

Light winds that are ideal for stand up paddling are also perfect for these small aircraft, and their small size means they can get super close to the action without any risk of hindering the competitors. Try getting a full size helicopter to hover a few meters over the start line of a Battle of the paddle race, and you'd find most competitors wouldn't get past the winds created by it hovering so low. 

You'll see these kind of videos popping up all over the place from now on, and despite the news stories telling of 'invaded privacy' and government spying, amateur videographers are franticly reading up how-to articles on how to make these things. In the next 5 years, there probably won't be such tools such as steady cams, dollys or cranes to slide cameras around, they might all just have a heap of propellors on top.

Check out the video below, even if you're not interested in the way it was shot, it's just a cool video if you're into Stand Up Paddling.