Hi Jeff, The SX40 has an amazing 35x optical zoom, and then has digital zoom beyond that. However it gets much harder to hold the camera steady the more you zoom in.
Thank you for your suggestion for mounting the webcam and just letting it roll. We will definitely do that at some point, especially in rough weather.
I also want to mount a GoPro camera somewhere on deck and have it automatically take a photo every 10 seconds for a whole day long, and then see if I can animate them.
I absolutely plan to make a blooper episode someday! I have tons of hilarious footage from the Fiona and Fellowship series. Thanks for the suggestion!
Happy sailing,
Drake