Toys for Geeks. My Shadowbox has arrived!

Santa Came Early!

Ok, after months of waiting, my new Shadowbox has arrived. It is a cool GPS with extra sensors that record a great deal more motion detail than a regular GPS. I should be able to see how high I jump, how smooth my gybes are, and someday help me with analysis of tricks I am still trying to learn.
There are a lot of sailors who deserve to have their skills recorded more than I do, but the geeky engineer in me couldn't resist ordering one. Here's a great video with guys who deserve to be monitored with a Shadowbox (go to 1:30 to see the Shadowbox tracking). I'm looking forward to recording my first session, hopefully it gets warmer here in France next week, we've been freezing with the rest of Europe for 10 days.

What I find really cool about the Shadowbox, is that like the GoPro, it is a new, high tech device that is made (or at least designed and assembled) in the USA. While many people seem to want to believe that the US is in constant decline, Apple, Google and smaller cool companies like shadowbox and GoPro seem to still all come from the US.

But what is it about windsurfing and engineering types like me? Ok, not all windsurfers are engineers, but once when I was down in San Carlos, 5 of 7 guests were engineers. And the number of doctors, pilots and rocket scientists make windsurfing a bit unusual as a sport. Why so many geeks?