BACK TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE LYC OPENING PAGE and CONTENTS     REPORT from GARETH ROWLAND The idea of being asked to be a stunt double in an ice yacht, seemed fun at the time, then they told me the dates, 28th to 30th October. My brain clicked into gear and replied that there would not be any ice in northern Europe yet. "Don't worry" they said "we are sorting that out, we are going to Greenland"! As the Brits were first on the ice last year it was an offer I could not refuse. As information and pictures came in the next few days, it dawned on me that just getting an ice boat on a lake would be a challenge in itself. Then there were up to 27 camera crew and boxes upon boxes of kit. I dragged the DN ice yacht from its resting place as it had not been looked at for well over six months, I rigged it and over the next two days serviced it and packed some spares as if anything did break in such a remote location it would be very embarrassing. Next job was to find out where we were going. The only map of Greenland I had was the kid's atlas upstairs, the Internet proved more forthcoming. I explained to the agency that I was sand sailing with John Cookson in Berck, France, for the classic "Berck Six Hour". There was a pause on the phone and then the agency asked if there was a possibility of me being hurt. If so the whole trip would be a no no. So as back up I rang our other ice yacht team member Neil Marsden. Neil fell about laughing as I explained that he might be ice sailing next to a glacier with a blonde wig on his head! WE ARE ON OUR WAY TO GREENLAND AT LAST Having survived the gales of the weekend where I drove back in 70mph winds the cross channel ferries were not running so it was a threequarter hour wait in the queue to get on the train. Think I was lucky as the tunnel was also closed later due to sea salt blowing onto the electric conductors, debris blowing around as well power cuts. Also the Dartford Crossing on the bridge was closed so that made another threequarter queue to get through the tunnel. I finally arrived at the Hilton hotel to have a very welcome swim, sauna and jacuzzi if only to wash all the sand off my body. The Force 10 gale had filled my hair, ears, etc. There was not much time as I had to double check my gear, get all the sand out of the day bags and throw some clothes out that might not be needed to try and reduce the baggage. It was an early start, 04.30. A quick breakfast in the hotel and onto the airport bus at 5.30am. I waited at Zone K and the rest of the crew turned up. A girl (Lucy) from Radical must have been spitting hairs all weekend as the logistics getting everyone and everything onto the plane. The call sheet reads 14 people from the UK and the rest to be picked up in Iceland. Getting the DN into a BEA200 was up to the baggage handlers, some seats were removed at the front of the aircraft and the DN had the first class treatment. THE HISTORY LESSON! It seems that flying to Iceland and seeing it green was not quite right. Some wicked Icelander called the biggest white frozen island in the world "Greenland" to con people into going there thinking it was a better place than Iceland. So now you know why it's called "Greenland". A huge icecap, 1,833,900 sq Kms or 14 times the size of the UK covers 85% of it. The ice represents 10% of the world's fresh water, if some were to melt it sea level would rise 6.5 metres. Greenlander's have over sixty words to describe ice. Greenland also has some of the oldest rocks in the world some 3,700 million years old (Earth is reckoned on being 4,600 million years old) the next island to it Iceland has the youngest rocks in the world, an amazing contrast. Back in Iceland we landed after a two and a half hour flight and were invaded by the second set of crew, they bought on board all the arctic gear that we were to need, that was all stacked on the seat-less front area. Another two hour flight had us landing on the west coast of Greenland at Kangerlussaug or Bluie West 8 to ex American fly boys. This is where nature takes charge. The airfield is at the end of the, Sondre Stromfjord, the longest Fiord in the world some 100 miles long and we just flew for fifty five minutes over nothing but ice up to 2.5km thick. The town exists only to service the airport; at least the Americans had left a fairly modern hotel that we were to use. On landing and walking across the tarmac the temp of -14C and dry air caused a sharp intake of breath. We waited inside the warm hotel for our baggage. Meantime the advance party was itching to get into a helicopter and fly the nineteen miles out to this frozen lake in front of a Glacier. Since I was the ice "expert" I was in for the ride as well. The arctic gear was dug out and the bulky arctic suits made a tight squeeze in the back of the copter. Unfortunately my video camera was in the second lot of baggage so I missed the film "for the record" we flew up to the glacier zoomed all round it practicing various camera angles, and then we landed and checked out the ice. I was frozen very solid, up to a foot or more with the dramatic 100 ft high ice wall as a back drop. We walked up to within 200 ft of the ice wall as getting any closer was dangerous. We were walking into a debris field of ice with shoe box size ice blocks to "check it out" some moved, others did not. These were lumps of ice that use to be part of the glacier; they were so pure, just like crystals. It seems that ice is under such pressure that when a huge lump of glacier is "calved" it can shatter in to millions of small pieces. To avoid an axle ripping session in the DN that area was to be avoided, the rest of the area in front of the ice wall was pretty flat so we settled on this dramatic location. The ice was making the usual pinging and zinging noises but occasionally you would hear a large "rifle" crack and a boom. From the stress lines on the ice over a foot thick you could tell the wall of the glacier was making its relentless grinding way via gravity. On the helicopter flight back we checked out three other ice lakes but with only rock as a background they were ruled out. Back at the hotel it was time to find the baggage and unwrap the yacht, as you were in and out you kept the thermals on. That meant you boiled in the warm hotel and got cold hands as you checked the yacht outside in -14C degs. You had to be careful not to touch bare metal as your skin would freeze on making removal a little painful. I then put the DN in a large white truck ready for the next day. After a half hour to freshen up it was time to find out what the hotel Restaurant had to offer. I took the laptop into the restaurant to show the crew what the location was like but head waiter seemed to take a dislike to it, so work was put aside and looked at the selection of food on the menu. Prices were not bad at all considering our remote location. For Starters there was: Fish soup (lumps of catfish and Greenland halibut); seafood skewer (Scallops and King prawns); Specialities of Greenland (Smoked Loin of lamb, Skin of Nar Whale dried strips of Greenland Halibut and prawns.); Vol au Vent (filled with creamed sweetbreads and smoked Breast of Guillemot) I went for the Vol au vent!! Main course selection was:- Loin of Veal steak Roast Musk Ox Roast Poussin Fried and Poached Catfish. The Musk Ox was very nice!! We skipped the sweets and went for the "Greenland Coffee"! With some red wine and an extra three hours of wake up time under the belt (Greenland is 3 hours behind GMT) all of us hit the sack. With a 5.30 am call you have to sleep some time. A quick look out side and you had a pretty good view of the "Northern Lights" (highly charged particles from the sun that get trapped in the Earth's magnetic field), a temperature of -17C made sure you did not stay out too long. TUESDAY: The day started with a clear sky and a dawn that lasted for over three hours Time seemed to fly by as we put all the gear in the large white lorry. All the camera crew and Madelene (the Swedish model) plus the wardrobe went in the green Unimog. I opted to go with the yacht and had a nice chat with the local driver. First we had to put 200 litres of diesel in the lorry as it ran out last time. (The lorry has arctic heaters that must use diesel) The diesel out here is a specially refined diesel that will go down to at least minus 45c. I was told that the water for the base was taken from a deep lake via a heated pipe. The soil water I think is put out to sea. Some environmentalists went to measure the possible pollution but the place is so vast I don't think they could measure anything. We soon caught up the lumbering Unimog just past a large round mountain that sits in the middle of the valley. The Americans called it "Sugar Loaf Mountain" because of its shape, also they could not pronounce the Greenlander name. The English translation describes the mountain as "The Place Where You Sit And Watch For Reindeer"! Pretty self explanatory since we were in the middle of the best hunting grounds for the animals. We drove for nearly and hour on a metalled track that twisted its way past frozen lakes surrounded by mountains over 1500ft high getting glimpses of the snouts of glaciers as they spilled out over the rocks from the vast mass inland. Finally we stopped and had to move a few tons of gear into the Unimog to get it down about 500ft to the ice lake. This was off-roading at its best. No track, just a few axle ripping rocks that were frozen in the ground on the steep slope. A few sharp blows dislodged the one or two rocks that did get in the way. Down at the lake we had base camp, a food tent and a round canvas tent for the gear. I rigged the DN and walked out through a 100 metres of ice blocks that had drifted to the end of the lake before the whole lake froze. Out on the smooth ice there was not a breath of wind, just a kilometre of 30-metre high ice wall casting a long shadow from the low midday sun on ice over a foot thick. Two kilometres out at the other end of the lake the location was best for the film crew. I now had time to have a little lunch. The main problem was that I had been so hot getting the DN ready and pushing it out on the ice that I was seriously dehydrated. The humidity is so low out here that you loose two litres of fluid a day just by breathing, sweat evaporates fast so you need to keep tipping liquids down your throat as much as you can. A little later the quad bikes had bought all the camera kit out. At breakfast I had some very odd looks as I made Swedish packet soup in my 1 litre. But now the wardrobe girls needed warming up as they were waiting for the camera crew to finish putting camera on the DN. I also gave them some of my "kiddy" bite-size Mars bars, at -14C they start off like a hard toffee in the mouth, but they soon melt and give you the energy you need. As there was not a breath of wind I was towed behind the quad bike to check it out. Since the Swedish model, Madelene, had done some ice sailing before I could see no reason why she should not sail. Over the past few hours I had been going over the "what ifs" of sailing a DN. Madelene seemed happy, so off she went being towed behind a quad bike that itself was towing a tin tray sledge with two film cameras and crew on it. The film crew could check the filming with a DV tape machine that was on the side of the eyepiece. I put some "clip-on" ice skates on my insulated studded ice boots. I wobbled about a bit on the uneven ice, much to the amusement of the wardrobe girls. I soon got the hang of it again and travelled at a good speed on the ice. I had a look at the blue-green 100ft high ice cliff at the southern end of the kilometre-long ice wall. This looked most unstable as it was being thrust into a hill and large blocks were being split off and the rest looked really stressed. I approached to within 300ft and left just as quick as I could hear the cracking of the ice. I skated back to Madelene who had been paused by the film crew. By now the camera crew were ready to put a tubular frame on the side of the yacht so that it looked back at the pilot. Another quad bike bought out some sandwiches, Coke, coffee and Mars bars. The coffee soon went, the sandwiches went a little slower as the tomato and the filling was frozen at -14C. As for the Mars bars only the strongest teeth dealt with them. It was now my hot soup came to the rescue of Madelene as she was cold from wearing the bare minimum of warm clothes on the yacht. Suitably warmed up Madeline went off for the second shoot with the camera crew. I took some pictures as the helicopter took off to take some shots of the yacht in the fading light. In the fading the camera crew packed their gear up and the quad bikes took the gear back while the crew walked back. I left the DN on the southern shore all wrapped up. I then skated the mile back to base camp taking a wide sweep that gave me smoother ice. I even beat some of the camera crew home! Back at base camp there was a nice smell of mint sauce and lamb from the food tent. You had to eat it quick as the sub-zero plates soon cooled it down. It was then an hour-long drive into the ever deepening red sunset back to Kangerlussaug. Later in the evening most of us went out to the only other eating place, a pizza bar the other side of the airfield. Everything went fine with the ordering but when the pizza came out things got in a real muddle as what came out of the oven was not that ordered. We were hungry anyway so we ate it! With a 5.30am start it was not long before we got back to our beds after a quick look of the Northern Lights on the way home. WEDNESDAY: It was an early rise at 5am, check the gear for the day and try and have a cold breakfast. This time we were better organised and we were out on the ice putting a camera frame on the DN before dawn. This time the camera was hung on the outside if the yacht just in front of the mast looking back at the pilot. Again there was not a breath of wind. I thought this would be a problem but the camera crew preferred that as they could be in control and get the shots they wanted. Out on the ice there were a few small puffs of wind that had Madelene accelerating up to the quad bike that was going full throttle towing her. Back at the pits the camera crew rigged a tall mount that had the camera taking a longer shot from a higher position looking back at the pilot. This put a lot of weight on the front and side of the yacht that had us worried about the stability of the DN. I think Madelene was still happy about sailing the yacht, but the puffs of breeze had the better of the yacht. Also the helicopter was buzzing around creating a little downdraught. The crew had the DN on a rope and could not release it quick enough, so the DN did a big slide before stopping. Madelene was a little shaken but was unhurt. The extra weight of the camera gear on the front bent the front steering post as well as twisting the tiller post. We stripped the yacht and inspected the damage. At -17 degrees we dare not straighten any bent bits as it could easily snap. The film crew went for lunch back at base camp and a couple of us stayed to repair the DN. Somehow the steering post had twisted the drop arm at the bottom of the yacht. This made the stainless wires either too long or too short. It's amazing what you can do with lengths of string! We soon had the DN back on the ice, even if the front runner was leaning slightly. There was a slight wind and I had a lovely 15 minutes sailing back and forth in front of the ice wall and not a damn camera in sight! The film crew then came out from base camp and set up a camera to face forward shooting the front runner as it travelled on the ice. Once we were all set up off we went sailing, towed again. I was sailing into the sun trying to get the long low shots. I had to push the red button on the remote control to start the camera. Most of the rest of the crew were setting up a large reflective screen and camera track. After one run we realised that some of the crew were in the shot. We had already used nearly half the footage in the camera so we had to do another run and get it right. Also we had some ice chips on the lens. So we went as far back down the lake as possible and when the yacht was up to speed being towed I pressed the button. At the end of the run there was quite a bit if ice on the bottom of the lens, but most of the footage looked good. With a few more feet left on the film we had one more short run just to make sure. With the sun setting fast we took the camera and mountings off and set it up by the rest of the crew. These were the static shots with the yacht in the background and the camera revolving around Madelene. With the large reflector and the warm colours of the setting sun she looked very pretty, if a little cold. In between takes it was back on with the big jacket, I also used the last of the hot soup. With the sun dropping and casting us in shadow we all had to move about 300ft to get the last of the sun's rays. By now the rest of the crew had rigged up a generator and an arc light this was used with a large gauze screen with Madelene in the foreground, the screen then the DN behind, this was with a beautiful deepening red sky behind. The producer finally said "It's a wrap" and we all applauded and started packing up. I pushed the yacht back to base camp and started stripping it down. The tricky bit was how to get it up the 500ft and a half a mile of rough country. It could be loaded into the Unimog but with it hanging out of the back and such a steep gradient we were certain it would all fall out. We finally settled by putting it on the small four wheel trailer behind the quad bike. It was all lashed down and away it went. The mast was too long to safely transport in what was now darkness. With a rucksack on my back and the mast in hand I walked back up the hill to the waiting trucks. Looking back at the ice wall it was now glowing with a weird incandescent cold white light. With so much ice around to reflect any light that is left from the long gone sun it made a beautiful last image of our visit. Then nature had one last trick up here sleeve. As I huffed and puffed up the slope trying not to fall over the tussocks of grass in the gloom, I looked up. There in all its glory was a really good display of Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). It's so hard to describe, the shots you see on TV are only what the camera can pick up, using "eye ball number one" you see all the intensity and detail of the display. The curtains of light, danced, swirled and twisted above you. There was a dark mauve edge to the bottom and along the curtain of light it looked like someone was playing the piano by putting their fingers in the light to create a shadow, almost like a Jean Micheal Jarre concert. But this was nature at its best in a lovely remote part of Greenland. I finally made it to the top of the hill and the transport home. We were briefed that the flight out would be at 8 am next morning. To get the gear loaded plus your hand baggage it meant a 5.30 am rise again. I spent the early evening securing the DN for transport and had a quick look at my pictures of the day on the PC. We all had our evening meal in the hotel restaurant selecting the different menu from the previous. With a belly full of food and wine I went out side to try and take some pictures of the Northern Lights. At -17C with a breeze picking up I almost got frostbite on my ear, so I gave up and went to bed. Next day most of us were up and about on time, a few doors had to be rattled but we all got the freight on the plane, us and our hand baggage. Time on the flight back to the UK passed quickly as a few of us relapsed into our comatose state! Half the baggage and crew dropped off at Iceland and we landed at Stansted, England at about 5.30pm GMT. As my DN was freight it had to be checked by Customs. They only work 9-5 on freight so I had to spend the night in the local hotel. Back in the hotel I had a nice swim, sauna and jaccuzi to wash off the effects of the flight then back in the hotel room I started typing up this story. At 10.15 I fell asleep for 30 minutes in front of the PC. So that was that time for bed again!! PERSONAL THOUGHTS OF THE TRIP! I have built my clothing for the ice over a number of years but bearing in mind the constant low temps I was so impressed with the thermal clothing that I bought from Ravenspring. I wore half the thickness of some and was warmer -- too warm sometimes -- but then that's where the kit comes in. It's breathable so your sweat doesn't come back to cool you down -- exposure is the biggest gremlin out on the ice. The other thing I must remember is to take more liquid out on the ice so I think to take an insulated bag with fizzy drink and water kept at room temp before would help. I know we went to work in Greenland and go there with out a purpose seems a waste there is the possibility of getting the DN sailing on some lovely ice lakes. Since the adventurous kind go there it's another string to the tourist board. Autumn and spring would be good times as I think winter would just be too cold. [  b a c k   t o   th e   t o p   o f   t h e   p a g e  ] BACK TO THE LINCOLNSHIRE LYC OPENING PAGE and CONTENTS