Last February GoPro signed on as a major sponsor of the WSL with the promise of “integrating GoPro content into event coverage”, yet so far the only content they've contributed has been pre-recorded clips and after-the-fact footage. However, with the recent release of the HEROcast that may soon change.

Earlier this year a company called Teradek released a unique piece of live streaming technology. The first product of its kind, Teradek allowed webcast producers to splice live GoPro footage directly into their web stream.

At the time of Teradek's release GoPro were working on a similar product called HEROCast. HEROCast, which was released last month, works like this: a transmitter is attached to the normal GoPro camera which sends a signal back to the receiver. The vision is shown to the webcast producer as another camera angle that he can switch between.

The diminutive size and portability of the GoPro compared to normal video cameras means it can capture live footage from vantage points previously considered too hard to access.

Brook Silvester is a long time filmmaker, he worked behind the camera at the ASP for many years, spent the last nine years on the set of Bondi Rescue, and hasn't stopped experimenting with cameras and associated technology.

“I've been looking at the integration of GoPro cameras into the live broadcast events for some time now with my own results,” says Silvester. “I was experimenting with this concept and now they have released it. Great minds think alike!”

Silvester even went so far as to approach GoPro but had no reply. “So they obviously had it on the drawing board back then.”

When splicing live GoPro footage into the webcast the question is where to place the GoPro. Traditionally GoPros had been mounted on boards though the results are shaky – a million vertigo-inducing YouTube clips can testify to that. The best result are hand held or mouth-mounted grips, yet each is impossible in a competition situation (at any rate the waterproof version, the HEROCast BacPac, may currently be too large for either application – expect subsequent versions to be smaller).

The other obvious option is a drone-mounted camera. Yet despite the WSL's announcement of increased drone footage in the webcast, all that has been used thus far is the odd shot in the pre-recorded package. We're yet to see any live surfing footage captured by a WSL drone. Imagine for a moment the real time view of sets approaching and refracting across the outside Pipeline reefs, or Teahupoo, or Cloudbreak...

With his years of surf and webcast knowledge, where would Brook Silvester mount the HEROCast?

“I have a few new camera angles in mind that would definitely deliver some new shots for the live broadcast. So I'd be happy to get employed on the WSL tour and share my knowledge and experience of live broadcast POV.” Silvester laughs but his intent is clear.

The technology is already here – hell, the creator's of said technology sponsor the World Tour – and Brook Silvester is proof that the technicians are ready to implement it. So how soon till the WSL webcast starts showing live camera footage from above, from the water, and even, when the time comes, the surfers' point of view?

Swellnet put this question to the WSL but is yet to receive an answer. Watch this space...or maybe the coming webcasts.

(Homepage photo of Kelly Slater at 2014 Pipe Masters by Eric Sterman)