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...