Yachts International November-December 2014

FROM THE MASTHEAD
Privacy and Eyes in the Sky
Camera-toting drones are about the coolest toys
to hit the yachting scene since the inflatable
banana. Seriously: Being a lifelong photographer,
I’m enthralled by the images a drone and a GoPro
camera can produce. They allow perspectives on yachts,
recreational activities and destinations that landside or
waterborne cameras can’t capture.
But there’s an issue hovering below the radar that makes me a shade
nervous. Imagine enjoying dinner and drinks on the aft deck, at anchor
in a secluded cove in Maine, the silence so profound you can hear the
wind rushing over the wings of the geese flying overhead. Then you hear
it: a low-level combination of leaf blower and weed trimmer increasing in
pitch. In seconds, it’s hovering over you and you find yourself becoming
more steamed than your lobster. You have no idea who’s controlling it or
where he is and where the stills or video he’s shooting will end up. I don’t
know about you, but I find that scenario scary.
Kim Kavin’s reporting in her story “Spies in the Skies” should raise red
flags for owners and charterers who enjoy the tranquility and anonymity
yachts provide. Paparazzi now can invade your privacy by remote control and
there’s apparently little you can do about it.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration currently prohibits the use of drones for commercial
purposes, but it appears few heed the law. Some states have banned their use over events where
large groups of people congregate, but such laws are aimed more at safety than privacy. Regulators
worldwide are working to catch up with the technology, but even if they do, in an age where
everyone with a mobile phone is shooting stills and video with impunity, it seems hard to imagine
they’ll gain any traction.
What can you do about it? If you can find the pilot, you can file a lawsuit, but it’s hard to
imagine that would be worth the money and effort. I guess there’s always the .12-gauge solution,
but if neither of those work for you, maybe it’s best to buy a drone of your own and create some
great memories. Just keep it away from my patch of water, please.
Under the Radar
Another story in this issue deals with privacy of a different stripe. In his piece “Ruse on the
Chesapeake,” author L. Douglas Keeney tells a fascinating story about the contribution the
steam yacht Delphine (then, in Navy trim, called the USS Dauntless) and her crew made to
ensure President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his military staff arrived in secrecy at the USS Iowa
for a date with destiny in 1943.
It probably was a good thing for world peace that the “root weevils” of the day, with their
bulky cameras and press cards stuck in their fedoras, didn’t have access to drones as FDR and
company pulled off their stealth run in yachts down the Chesapeake Bay. The Iowa’s anti-aircraft
guns surely would have made a bigger mess of the drones than a yacht captain with a .12-gauge.
Kenny Wooton
Editor-In-Chief
PHOTO BY ANITA STREETER
YOUR ASSIGNMENT: Drop us a line. If you like what you’re reading in Yachts International—or even if you don’t—we want to hear from you.
Send us an email: yachtsmail@aimmedia.com or visit us at yachtsinternational.com or facebook.com/yachtsinternational
YACHTS
INTERNATIONAL
16
yachtsinternational.com