Technology, Good or Bad?
FILM YOUR TRIP, OR NOT N
ewfangled digital camcorders, HD-capable digital SLRs, helmet cams and pocket- friendly point-and-shoot cameras make high- quality filmmaking equipment accessible for the masses. The real question is, do you want to do it?
Paddlesports filmmaker Justine Curgen-
ven has made a living toting camera gear to the watery ends of the Earth. She offers this advice: “Small mountable cameras like the GoPro Hero and the Oregon Scientific ATC9K
allow the keen kayaker to bring the experi- ence home to their friends in high definition. The challenge is getting the best out of these cameras and creating a story from the foot- age. You have to learn the limitations of a camera and work out ways to get around them: Don’t film into the sun. Treat your lens with a water repellent like Rain-X and have a cloth handy to wipe drops off. The main thing is to practice before you really want to film something. You will make mistakes, so make them when it doesn’t matter. “The main downside of filming an expedi-
tion is that the process is tiring and it can take the focus away from the experience of the trip,” Curgenven admits. “When I’m exhaust- ed I don’t want to pick the camera up and think about capturing a sequence of shots. When dolphins leap into the air beside me, it would be nice to just sit and watch rather than grab for my camera.”
Expedition Films That Inspire Eastern Horizons (Reel Water Productions, 2009) Paddle to Seattle (Dudes On Media, 2009) This Is The Sea 1–4 (Cackle TV, 2004–2009) Pacific Horizons (Reel Water Productions, 2007) Oceans 8 (Jon Bowermaster, 2006) Kayaking on the Top of the World (Andres Hvidt, 2000)
Self-proclaimed “Luddites” Shawna Franklin and Leon Sommé have yet to embrace technology like satellite telephones and SPOT GPS messengers for expedition paddling. Rather, they favor common sense. “Our hope is that our skills and knowledge of our limitations will get us through without having to pull other people in to endanger their lives for us,” says Sommé. “We start to rely on this equipment and we rely less on our judgment. There’s some danger in that.”
GROUP DYNAMICS W
hen Norwegian sea kayaker Simen Havig- Gjelseth assembled a team of paddlers to attempt an unsupported circumnavigation of Antarctica’s South Georgia Island, personality trumped paddling skills according to his list of requirements. “It is more important that the person can work in a group, creating a nice atmosphere and not complaining, rather than being an Olympic champion in paddling,” notes Havig-Gjelseth, who went so far as to insist that all four paddlers sleep in the same tent to ensure decisions were made as a group. The strategy worked. In November 2010, the Norwegians became the first to paddle around South Georgia’s rugged 650-kilometer perim- eter without external assistance.
www.adventurekayakmag.com 39
PHOTO: RYAN CREARY
PHOTO: PHIL TIFO
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