Gopro Mounting

No. you could wrap some pro-grip round and just clamp onto that. 

Or even some duck tape. 

That will stop it marking the mast. Just tighten to hold it firm. you wont compress the carbon enough to break it!

But....remember if the mast is tapered if the camera can move upwards, then it will come loose! 

use duck tape and wrap it thicker as you go up the mast. 

The mast will be fine, just tie the gopro on incase

The extension from the boom is important, too close and you don't get the full boat and crew sitting out downwind, too far and shaking gets worse. 

 eg: 

Beside this I also use a sticky mount onto the port side of my compass bracket. This is good for seeing crew work and is very stable, but is a bit too close to always get all the boat and helm. 

I also use the head mount. You need to angle the camera down more than you think to pick up on your hand and foot work, otherwise it's just looking at the sails all the time. You also need to keep your head steady.

Examples of mast and head cam here (0:37):  

Mast head cam looks good, but logistically is a faff turning on and off.

If your doing a video for others to watch then mix it up, if it's for self coaching then pick a steady angle which shows most of what you want. 

I like the boom end cam.

With mast head cam I just end up with hours of footage to edit for only a few good shots. I still like using boom end, compass bracket and head mount as I can switch between the angles during one sail without having to capsize the boat or return to shore. 

However, I do think mast head cam is good as it's just not an angle people are used to seeing a boat from which can make otherwise boring footage quite cool. 

I'm just not sure GoPro's are well suited to being a mast head cam, I think they are better closer to the action (that's what the wide angle lens is for). When you mount them up on the mast it's too wide and has too much distortion.  I.e the mast head takes up most of the shot but your subject (the deck and sailors) is tiny on the screen.  Other cameras with less 'fish-eye' would probably be best for mast cam. 

Ahh ok, you may be able to get a wifi back-pack for that which enables you to use a remote or even your iphone or android phone. But i think they are for the hero 2's and 3's (the 3's don't require the backpack and have wifi built in)

Then you just hit play as and when you require. The iphone is great as you can see it real time (actually its 2 seconds out) but that helps for setting the camera up. Just put your phone in a lifeproof case and off you go. 

Or you use the gopro remote.  

Then drop the hint for the mounts for valentines day