Wet Exit Documentation

Here's a link to a 5 minute video, showing highlights of the WET EXIT performance on Saturday, September 23, 2011.

VIDEO -->

Performance this Friday and Saturday - Under Manhattan Bridge

I'm very excited about this performance, hope you can make it! It's in the park right outside Smack Mellon in DUMBO.



WET EXIT / Multimedia Performance by Janet Biggs

Friday and Saturday, September 23 & 24 at 8:30pm, weather permitting. Free!

Waterfront Amphitheater in the Brooklyn Bridge Park,
entrance at Main and Plymouth Street.

Smack Mellon presents artist Janet Biggs' premier of Wet Exit, a multi-media performance that looks at loss, chaos and control. Wet Exit combines projected video images, vocalist and musicians, with choreographed kayakers performing in the East River.

Press release and more information >

Ship's Log: Day 14 - Morning

October 19th - A.M.


We woke up to the ship rocking and rolling, while at anchor! The wind was howling outside. The Captain had heard that the wind was going to pick up and it was living up to the prediction.

I had been thinking about the shots I needed for my project. This was the last day I would be able to film Audun kayaking. As much as I personally wanted to get out one last time in the kayak, the shots I needed had to be taken from the ship or the Zodiac. I had to make a choice between indulging my desire to kayak one last time or to stay focused on my project.

I was also struggling with a kind of apathy. The thought of my Arctic experience coming to an end was sapping my energy. I didn't even feel like filming. I've felt this way before when I've spent extended time on location so I knew I needed to push past my apathy and get out there and shoot. I also knew that I was in the Arctic to make art, not enjoy paddling in the wild. When I told Katja how I was feeling, she understood, but pushed me to get out there and film (she's been an amazing help and a true friend). I found Audun and asked him to go out in the single. He also seemed a bit sad that we wouldn't enjoy one last time out on the water together.



I went up on deck and realized that none of us should be kayaking! The sea was rough with whitecaps and the wind too strong to go out safely. I went back below deck to let Audun know. He insisted that he would be okay, and that we should just go for it. He has gone from being a somewhat reluctant participant to a real collaborator in the project. He has a great sense of adventure and truly loves this region -- suggesting locations that we could explore for shots -- and now seems to really enjoy being in front of the camera. He is also taking a lot of kidding about his future Hollywood career and his need for an agent.



With Audun, Jan, and the Captain all saying that it should be no problem to go out in a kayak in these conditions, we decided to go for it. I wanted overhead shots and planned to start filming from the ship and then move out onto the water in the Zodiac. Fighting the pelting sleet and rough sea Audun got into the kayak. We planned for him to circle around the ship so I could film from above. This close to the Noorderlicht, Jan didn't need to follow him in the Zodiac.

I set up my tripod at the stern and waited for Audun to come around the back of the ship. It seemed to take him forever so I went to the side to look for him. He was paddling hard and hardly moving. The sea and wind was very strong, and pushing against him! He made it to the back of the ship and I started filming. It looked as if the ship was underway and Audun was struggling to catch up to it, but we were still at anchor!



The wind was blowing my tripod over as I struggled to stay upright. I took my big Sony camera off its tripod thinking it would be easier to film that way, only to have the camera come apart in my hands. I was holding two separate pieces!! The camera has a button to release the lens on the bottom of the camera. In my struggle to hold onto the camera and not fall over I must have hit the button (I still have no idea how this could happen). With the inner workings of the camera exposed to the sleet and high winds, I frantically tried to screw it back together. The whole thing jammed and was unusable.



I bolted for my cabin and grabbed my Canon so I could keep shooting. If Audun was going to risk his life for this piece there was no way I was going to stop shooting now. I got some amazing footage of him battling the wind and waves.

The Captain called Audun back in. The Zodiac, which was tied to the side of the ship, was banging so hard against the ship that the motor was at risk. Audun paddled for all he was worth and finally reached the Zodiac.








Ship's Log: Day 11

October 16th

We left Ny-Ålesund at first light. Everybody was moving pretty slowly from the night before (including some of the crew). I slept through breakfast for the first time (missing any of Anna's meals was a real hardship). I finally popped out of my bunk around 10am. Aaron said that we would be reaching our new destination of Kongsvegen/Kongsfjorden, by 11. He said I could have an hour of kayak time before lunch. I really need to get some detail shots so I jumped at the offer. I first filmed Audun putting on his drysuit and then lowering the kayak off the ship's side.



I then climbed out onto the bowsprits (the pole that sticks out very front of the ship) so I could get some overhead shots of Audun paddling. I had to get the Captain's OK for this since keeping one's balance on the bowsprits can be tough without all the ice that had formed on the ropes.




After filming from the bowsprits I joined Jan in the Zodiac and we followed Audun who was paddling off towards a glacier. The water was dark, menacing and full of ice. The closer we got to the glacier, the thicker the ice. At one point I asked Audun to paddle out a few meters and then turn and head back towards us. He started paddling away and just kept going. I thought he misunderstood me when he came to a halt. He then magically stepped out of the kayak onto a flat piece of floating ice!!! It looked like he was walking on water. He stood there for a minute, getting his balance, and then raised his arms above his head and smiled! He then gracefully got back into the kayak and paddled towards me as I had asked.



Our hour was up so we went back to the ship ... just in time for lunch (meat plate, cheese plate, mustard soup, salad, sardine pizza, and pasta with cheese and ham). After lunch, we all lined up to go ashore. I was in the third Zodiac trip. Sebastian was driving. We all looked heroic with our Arctic gear and cameras as we started motoring off towards the shore. We had gone about four feet when I looked out over the front of the Zodiac and called out, "Iceberg!" just as we hit it! This caused fits of laughter as we picked ourselves up off the Zodiac's floor. The Zodiac was punctured! As the air hissed out, Katja repeated, "there's a bloody hole in the Zodiac!". Crewmembers Jan and Sebastian clung to each other saying "we're scared" ... which sent us all into new fits of (somewhat hysteric) laughter. FYI ... a Zodiac is made of multiple inflated cells. Any number can be punctured without risking the buoyancy on the vessel. This is something most of us didn't realize until later.

Kongsvegen/Kongsfjoden was the most rugged landscape so far! Once we reached shore, we were able to walk right up to the narrow inlet in front of a massive glacier.



The spit of land that we were standing on was covered with all shapes of ice. Jan told us that the ice was due to the glacier calving and warned us to run (and leave our equipment behind) if we heard or saw the glacier calving. If a piece of the glacier falls ("calving") a large wave would completely cover the piece of land where we were all standing. With this warning in mind, I set up to document another of Katja's performances. Jan and Audun hiked to the top of a hill to watch over all of us.



Once we were all finished with our work for the day (this was such an amazing and dramatic landscape, many artists wanted to work on projects here) we started to walked back to the Zodiac pick-up point. As we were leaving I stopped, put down all my cameras and looked around ... telling myself, REMEMBER THIS!



Before dinner, I downloaded the footage I had shot onto the external hard drives that I had brought along (downloading was a time-consuming daily activity). Anna topped off this incredible day by serving rack of lamb. After dinner, Katja, Willie Somma (who was filming on the ship and hadn't made it ashore that day) and I asked Aaron if we could stay here for one more day. This will be our last glacier of the trip and we weren't ready to leave the dramatic ice behind. Aaron said it wasn't possible as rough weather was approaching and the Captain wanted to be sure we would arrive back at Longyearbyen on time (this alone was enough of a reason for all of us to be sad, but the thought of no more ice and returning to civilization reduced us all to tears). I'm living in a confusing state of mind ... I'm so attached to this landscape that I'm mourning its loss even while I'm still here and at the same time I'm really looking forward to seeing Bob and home.



That evening I got all set for a nice hot shower (soap and shampoo all in place), just to find out that the water was cold! I refused to take a cold shower, so I abandoned the idea for the moment, got dressed and joined the group watching a sci-fi film in the lower salon. After the film and a quick test of the water temperature, I happily enjoyed a hot shower. I've adopted a strategy of wearing all three thermal underwear shirts that I brought every day. I layer them, moving the one closest to my body to the outside layer each day in the hope that this would keep them "clean". This is why hot showers were so appreciated by me and the others who have to share such close quarters with me.


Ship's Log: Day 6

October 11th


We woke in the morning to a Caspar David Friedrich painting ... so many shades of white, pink, and blue. Just after breakfast we heard the ship's bell ring. The bell is used to call us to meals (we have all become some part of a Pavlovian experiment) and to alert is to exciting events on deck ... like polar bear sightings and the aurora borealis at night ... which we've saw last night!


Anyone who wasn't on deck ran up to see a young, thin male polar bear walking along the shore. These are the most dangerous bears. They are young and unpredictable and hungry enough to go after anything that might be a meal. The captain decided it was too risky to go ashore, but OK'd a kayak trip!

To my surprise another Arctic Circle Project participant asked to use the kayak to get an "on the water" perspective for one of his photographs. I was pretty hesitant to agree (actually I was downright disagreeable as he'd never kayaked in his life, which is dangerous enough in calm, warm water, but can be deadly in freezing water. I also view the kayaks as my art material which took months of planning to find and rent in Longyearbyen, and even more difficulty to get them on board). After a discussion with Aaron (read fight here ... that I lost) the other artist and Audun suited up in MY drysuits and set off. I waited impatiently for them to come back so I could go out in the kayaks and get some footage. I also felt bad for Audun who had to do double paddle duty ... although he didn't seem to mind. When Audun signed on as crew of the Noordrlicht he didn't know he was also signing on as a daily kayak paddler and star of my project.


When the other artist and Audun returned a thick fog had set in which created an amazing, otherworldly landscape for filming. I jumped in the Zodiac and filmed Audun first in the single, and then we pulled out the double. I sat behind and we struck out for the location where the polar bear was spotted (seems we both have a bit of the thrill seeker spirit). We couldn't find the bear so instead we headed towards the fjord's opening to the sea. Looking through the viewfinder, the image of Audun paddling hard looked amazing. I looked up from the view finder for a moment and found myself far from the ship, out in the bay with the waves and wind getting bigger by the minute. We had gone from water that looked like glass to white-capped waves washing over the kayak. To stop myself from freaking out I glued my eyes back to the viewfinder. It was a struggle to get back to the ship since we had the rudder up for better maneuverability. Eventually we had the Zodiac come alongside and Jan put the rudder in the water. I had to pop my kayak skirt to get to the rudder control cables ... something I was reluctant to do in rough water since I wasn't keen on taking in a lot of freezing water. Once we had the rudder down, Audun paddled hard and got us back to the ship safely.

Over lunch the ship sailed to Harnbaek polten/ Liefdefjorden. Anytime we sail or motor during a meal it's an event. Out come the sticky mats that help hold the plates and glasses on the table. Depending on how the boat is listing or rolling certain seats are tougher than others. On the downhill side, you have to hold on for all your worth and hope that the chair doesn't go out from under you. On the long benches, you prop one leg out to help hold you in place, which never quite works so you end up sliding up and down the bench. Meals usually have at least one or two crashes where glasses go flying. We also have learned that you can use bread to prop up one side of a plate to stop soup from spilling.


That afternoon Katja and I went ashore with a group of artists so she could perform another Fluxus instruction. We walked across a thin piece of land and found a beautiful cove full of ice and bitty bergs (bigger bitties than we've seen so far). It was an amazing location! A light snow was falling, which soon turned into freezing sleet which completely covered my lens. I tried to clean off the lens with a cleaning cloth, but it was more like using a scraper. After essentially chiseling the ice off the lens a couple of times we decided to call it a day and head back for the ship.



Ship's Log: Day 4

October 9th


We sailed again through the night arriving at Sallyhamna in the morning. After breakfast, I was sorting through my equipment when someone shouted "bear!" We all rushed out on deck. On a nearby shore, eight polar bears were feeding on a dead whale carcass!


Polar bears are usually solitary animals. Normally, when a male bear runs into another male they attack each other. But the bears we watched eating the whale carcass all had big, full stomachs and no interest in acting aggressively towards us or each other. They slid around on their bellies, with legs stretched out behind, and playfully boxing each other. A couple of bears wrestled and rolled down the snow covered hill. It was an amazing sight. Our guide said he has never seen so many bears in one place in the twenty years he has been working in the Arctic. Nearby, an Arctic fox and grey fox waited a good distance away from the whale carcass, hoping the bears would leave some of the whale for them.

Needless to say, any plans to go ashore were cancelled due to the polar bears. It only took one quick glance from Audun to send me off to the Captain and Aaron (the program director) asking for permission to take out the kayak. Unbelievably, they said OK as long as Jan (and the gun) stayed nearby in the zodiac!! Katya, my co-conspirator, bravely came along in the zodiac, ready to document any encounters.

Audun and I threw on our drysuits (not an easy or pretty feat) and jumped into the double kayak. In Arctic waters it is mandatory to wear a drysuit while kayaking -- in a drysuit, one can be submerged in the icy water with much less risk of hypothermia. Drysuits are loose enough to get lots of clothes underneath, important, since they are made of thin non-insulating material. They have rubber feet, and gaskets at wrists and neck to completely seal out freezing water incase you go overboard. Just getting my arms in, contorting enough to get my head through the rubber neck gasket, and the zipper up usually takes me 20 minutes. To get into the kayak to see the bears, I think I did it in 120 seconds.


Two bears had entered the water and were swimming close to shore. We paddled to within 40 meters of the bears before Jan called us back. I still can't believe that I went kayaking with polar bears swimming nearby! I was up front in the kayak and had popped my skirt (the neoprene skirt seals me into the kayak) so that I could twist backword to film Audun as he paddled. He paddled even closer to the bears that were eating and wrestling onshore and spun around to get shots of him paddling with a bear in the background.


The weather was cold and gray with snow falling. My camera was wearing its raincoat so we decided to keep paddling through the ice and snow. We traveled away from the bears and towards the end of the bay where a huge glacier met the sea. It was an incredible sight! Yet again, we were called back by Jan. Even Audun, who has had years of experience with ice, quietly mentioned that if the glacier calved we would be in big trouble. (When the ice on a glacier's face crashes into the sea, it's call "calving".) Calving glaciers cause HUGE waves which are never good for kayaks! Knowing the risk, Audun and I decided to ignore Jan's warning and continued on towards the glacier ... it was fantastic and terrifying all at the same time. I got some great footage of Audun paddling hard as snow and ice formed on his beard and eyebrows, glacier in the background.


The bay had filled with pack ice and "bitty bergs" (little icebergs). The captain decided we should move to another part of the bay to anchor for the night. The ship was carefully moving through the ice obstacle course when it suddenly came to an abrupt halt, sending people flying. We had hit a rock that was covered with ice. No one was hurt (other than some big bruises), but the incident caused another sleepless night. I heard sloshing noise from below and spent the night worrying that the rock had caused a hole ... needless to say the steel hull held fast. The sloshing I had heard was only the fresh water reserve kept below the passenger deck.

I later learned from the crew that there were two times when they actually worried about hull breaches (this was after the crew had had quite a few drinks). The crew always acted as if banging into rocks and huge icebergs was something they did for fun so we wouldn't worry.

Ship's Log: Day 3

October 8th

We had a tough night at sea. Thankfully I had applied patches for seasickness all over my body. The ship rocked and rolled and crashed through the ice. No one slept well due to moments of sheer terror ... and total disorientation. Our bunks have boards that we put in so that we don't fall out during rough seas, but these don't prevent us from banging about. Between the seasickness patches and the bruises, I've got a kind of Appaloosa horse look going on.

I have the bottom bunk, which on first viewing may not look like the best choice. It feels more like a cubby hole. It is about 30 inches tall which means no sitting up in bed. We both ended up sleeping with a lot of our stuff in beds ... both to cushion us when we were thrown about on rough seas, but also because there was just no where to store the stuff. To move about in bed and, say, reach the clothes that were stored at the foot of my bed, I had to shimmy and snake around. Most mornings I would POP out of my bunk in what we started to call my morning births.

After a little time at sea I was happy to have that bottom bunk. With it so cold above deck and all our hot bodies below there was a lot of condensation which formed around our ceiling porthole and rained down on Katja's top bunk. She had to keep the porthole slightly open to stop the drips, which made the top bunk really cold!

At 5am the ship finally arrived at 14th of July bay (named for the French holiday). The water was like glass and the sun came out for the first time since I've arrived in the High Arctic!

Audun Tholfsen, a Norwegian crew member has agreed to paddle the kayak and let me film him. He has had a lot of experience with cold water kayaking and looks great through the camera lens. He was part of the French Tara Expedition, which spent 9 months frozen in close to the North Pole. He is a total hard core Arctic explorer and guide.

We started out with Audun in a single kayak. Jan (who carried the BIG gun and drove the zodiac), Katja Algert (my roommate who had agreed to document the project), Matt Holzman (from NPR Studio 360), and me all piled into the zodiac. We struck out for the glacier at the far end of the bay. I had a hard time shooting because my jaw kept dropping over the incredible beauty. After an hour we went back to the ship and swapped the single for the double kayak. I got into the rear of the kayak, Audun took the front, and off we went. After all the kayaking lessons I took in New York, hours of practice, and kayak polo games played in the Hudson, it was fantastic to finally be paddling in the Arctic!!

After a couple hours of filming, Katja and I switched roles and I became her assistant, filming her perform a series of Fluxus instructions. It was an amazing day which ended with cocktails over glacier ice on the deck of the ship and a birthday celebration for Katja (the cook made an obscenely rich chocolate cake with nuts, cherries, and fresh whipped cream ... did I mention that I'm gaining weight in the Arctic?)


Ship's Log: Day 1

Now that I've finally recovered from jet lag and am emerging from culture shock, I'm ready and eager to relive my time at sea. I kept a diary at sea, and will post it here daily.

October 6th Evening


A couple of participants and I went to a restaurant for lunch and had our first taste of seal and whale meat. It didn’t taste like chicken!

Andreas Eriksson (one of the Longyearbyen kayakers who saved my life by transporting the kayaks 2 km from the Svalbard Sailing Club to the Nooordelicht's dock) picked up the kayaks in a borrowed trailer, met me at my hotel, and we drove to the pier. My first view of the Noorderlicht was through a blowing wind and falling ice -- exciting and terrifying at the same time. As beautiful as the ship was, it was hard to imagine 23 people being able to fit on board. I stowed my stuff and took some photographs of the ship. The rest of the group showed up and the mass luggage lugging began. We had more camera equipment than all of CNN.

We received a welcome talk from Gert Ritzema , Noorderlicht's Captain, and then a "rules for safe behavior" talk from Jan Belgers, our guide. Jan has an amazing amount of knowledge about the region and can answer any question we throw at him. He is also a crack shot with a bolt action rifle ... both he and the gun came with us anytime we left the ship.

That evening, we were served a fantastic meal ... which unfortun- ately for some was revisited as the sea got rough. I heard from some Longyearbyen friends that the night before we sailed our Captain was in local bar boasting that we set sail at 6pm and he would have us all sick by 6:15. I think we actually made it to 6:30. I had taken some Dramamine early so I wasn’t sick, but the fear of rough seas kept me eating light. To ease the dread of getting sick we had put together a pot of cash ($5.00 each) to be given to the first to fall (over the toilet bowl). We all paid into the pot in whatever currency we had so the lucky winner (who will remain nameless ... it wasn’t me) collected in Euros, Swedish and Norwegian kroner, Russian Rubles, Canadian dollars, US dollars, and Taiwanese dollars.

80 North

Got a message from Janet today!

We’re allowed 100 words via ship satellite. No reply to email allowed. Amazing footage and trip. Kayaked today with swimming polar bears! Eight bears total and two Arctic foxes eating a dead whale! Paddled through pack ice, icebergs to glacier. Four walrus on shore. Tomorrow we reach 80 north – Moffen Island – breeding place of Walrus. Sea quiet in bays off of fjords - one day and one night of rough sea. Seen northern lights for past two nights. Played with herds of Walrus. I’m being careful – only kayak with armed escort.


"Kayaked with swimming polar bears." Hmmm.

Wow, sounds like an amazing voyage so far, can't wait to see the footage! Bears! Auroras! Rough seas and armed guards!

Moffen island is about a 370km/230mi sail north from Longyearbyen. At 80 degrees north she's in explorer-only territory, not many have been up that far. Here's a map, and I'll also put a link to this map in the link section.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, there's a weather forecast for gale-force winds, with gusts up to 50mph/80kpm. I'm sure the crew has been through these before, but I'll be happy when she gets through that weather.

Long Distance Information

I got a call from Janet today at about 10AM. The ship spent the night east of Longyearbyen, and passed back into cel phone range on the way out to sea today.

They overnighted in a sheltered cove, and went out in a zodiac this morning to visit an abandoned Russian mine. Not sure exactly where, but for those who are cartographically-inclined, here's a map. On shore, two of the crew stood by with rifles as they hiked around.

Janet was happy to see flat water in the coves, as she's planning on videotaping from kayaks. Should be interesting. They'll need to drop the kayaks into the water from the ship, then enter them from the zodiac. For those who haven't been in kayaks, they're very easy to capsize. For those who haven't been in the arctic, the water is very cold. She'll be wearing a drysuit, but it's still a bit dangerous.

These are shots of Janet playing kayak polo in the Hudson, where she spent plenty of time in the water. She wasn't crazy about getting into the Hudson, but at least it was warm.

Janet says the participants are spending more time falling down aboard ship than standing up. A concern, as they're in relatively still water -- the much rougher open ocean should be interesting. Her bunk is small but cozy -- and there's a large board across the side so that she doesn't fall out in rough seas. Not much storage, so she's sleeping with her cameras and books.

They're heading down Isfjorden tonight, then they plan to sail north for three days - straight through open sea, day and night. They plan on exploring Woodfjorden, near the northwest shore of Spitsbergen.

The End of the Road

Karianne Steen, one of the kayak paddlers, offered to take me on a tour around Longyearbyen today. She picked me up in the morning and we drove past UNIS, the polar institute university, heading out of town. We visited two sledge dog kennels which were about 100 meters apart. Most of these dogs were owned by local residents. Eider ducks chose the area between the kennels to breed, since the Arctic foxes stay away from the dogs.

We stopped at an old airstrip and research station and found reindeer grazing through the snow. Along the road, we drove by old coal mines and headed up a mountain. Half way up was another sledge dog kennel (owned by the hotel in town called Base Camp). There was also a hunters cabin with dead seals hanging outside (dinner for the dogs).

We reached the top of the mountain (the literal end of the road) and looked back down all of Advent Valley and out over the fjord. The view and light were just incredible.

We head back into town and Karianne suggested that we continue on past town out towards Bear Valley (I'm using the English translations as there's no way I'm going to be able to spell the Norwegian names). There were some small houses scattered along the valley. These houses are for Longyearbyen residents who find town too hectic and like to get away for the weekends! We arrived at yet another end of the road and took a walk down into the valley to look at one of the houses up close (with Karianne packing a flare gun to scare off any polar bears).

It was a fantastic day and I'm really thankful for Karianne's generosity. I finished up the day buying more warm clothes and sampling whale and seal meat at a local restaurant.

I have lots of great shots, but my web connection isn't letting me upload the pictures. I promise lots of great images when I return!

The whole Arctic Circle Program gang is all here now and tomorrow we board the sailboat and head north! Once we're on the boat, no web, no phone, basically, we'll all be in 1910.

Seal Watching Humans

Day three fiming kayakers was the best day so far! A seal showed up to see what we were up to ... or at least check what was caught in the local fishing nets. The sea cooperated and the kayakers were really skilled in preforming synchronized movements! Great footage! As soon as the kayak paddlers started doing underwater rolls (in Arctic seas!) the seal was front and center wondering what we were doing.

Tonight I went to the indoor Svalbard swimming pool to watch the my kayaker friends play a game of polo. They would give the NY national team a run for their money. One of the polo players gave me a ride back to the hotel, and told me about local polar bear sitings. A mother bear and two cubs were recently seen hiding under under one of the houses on the upper road of town. It made me pause as I remembered that I ran up that same road this morning. Happily I didn't run into any polar bears, but I did pass a couple with baby stroller -- who had a rifle slung across across their back.

Kayaks on Isfjorden

You can see hi-resolution versions of these photos by clicking on the pictures.

Arctic Kayak Paddling-Day2

Today the sea was as smooth as glass. Five members of the Svalbard kayak polo team arrived ready to paddle. They were skilled paddlers and performed the synchronized movement really well ... although they were requesting that I photoshop perfect precision into the moves once I return to NYC.

After a couple of hours filming, the paddlers were all warmed up and I was FREEZING! To warm up I went for a run up by a church at the base of a mountain. Jaw dropping beauty where ever you look ... as I'm constantly looking out for polar bears.

One of the paddlers told me he has seen 5 so far this year. One was in the center of the road. He had his one and a half year old daughter in the car so he slammed it into reverse and let the bear own the road.

I'm still the only one in the hotel. Tonight I thought I'd make a movie ... Shining II. Finally a money maker!

Kayak Paddling in Isfjorden

Today was my first day of filming kayak paddlers. The sea was pretty rough ... rough enough that 3 of the 4 paddlers had never been out in these conditions. It was also cold enough that the drysuit's rubber gaskets had frozen. Once these were thawed, and we had gone over the patterns to be paddled, we head out to the sea. I rigged one camera on the strongest paddler, Eike's kayak. The other camera was set up on a tripod on top of a barrel for height. Just as we were about to launch the kayaks, the local press arrived and asked for an interview. Happily, the reporter agreed to talk after the kayakers had paddled and just took photos of the event.

A few minutes after all the kayaks were in the sea and had started the first pattern, a huge wave came in and capsized the strongest paddler. He was not able to roll his kayak upright since it was so rough. After what felt like years of Eike being inverted, he did a wet release and swam back to shore. Even in a drysuit hypothermia sets in within minutes so I was amazed when he said he would take a few minutes to dry off and try again!

I'm happy to report that the day ended with everyone safe, patterns preformed, and great footage in camera (especially from the camera mounted on Eike's kayak)! Tomorrow we try again...

Arctic Running

I got up and went for a run this morning ... not like my normal lower east side of Manhattan runs. The roads, where paved are snow and ice covered with a bit of gravel on top which helped keep me upright.

It's cloudy today and the tops of the mountains are disappearing into the clouds...still unbelievably beautiful. I checked out the Svalbard Sailing Club (a small clubhouse on the water) and looked at the color of the kayaks for filming. I'm waiting to hear from Eike when the four paddlers will be available to be filmed ... till then I'm assembling tripods and reading manuals for all my new camera equipment.