Zip Line at Justin Herman Plaza Part 2

Urban Zip Line Part 2

Yesterday afternoon, I went back down to Justin Herman Plaza to take more shots of people riding the zip line.  This time, I did three things differently in order to get better footage:  (1) I took the better camera; and (2) I went early in the afternoon so that Justin Herman Plaza wouldn't be as completely cloaked in shadows from the surrounding buildings; and (3) I took Chip with me so we could both take shots.

So I think this video is much better than the first one I posted.

Not quite living up to its name

Not-So-Zippy Zipline

It's hard to watch people riding the zipline for very long without wondering whether this kind of thing happens.  Or how often it happens.

It certainly looks like the Ziptrek people are well prepared and know how to handle this kind of thing quickly and efficiently, though.  The whole incident did not take fully five minutes, beginning to end.

Still, you have to wonder how disappointing it must be for this to happen to someone who stood in line for who-knows-how-long.  It's really got to be a big let-down.  I hope that the Ziptrek people took this person back through to the head of the line and let them go again.

On the plus side, though, this happened right in front of my camera as neatly as if I had planned it this way.

Zip line at Justin Herman Plaza

Zip Line at Justin Herman Plaza

I once mentioned to a friend that I carried two small cameras (a Nikon still camera and a Sony HD video camera) in my coat pockets at all times so that I would never have to say, "Damn, I wish I had a camera right now."

He asked if I ever actually used them.

I told him that it didn't happen often, but, yes, I did stumble upon things to take pictures of:  The LoveFest/LoveParade, the Maltese Falcon docked at Pier 35,  the police clampdown on Halloween in the Castro a couple of years ago.  And to me, those rare occasions justify carrying the cameras.

So when I heard Friday about the zip line stretched across Justin Herman Plaza from now until April 18, all I had to do to get shots of it was to stop by on my way home from work.