Interview with Sebastian Copeland

EXPLORERSWEB.COM. JULY 29, 2010.

Sebastian holds, with partner Eric McNair-Landry, the world record for the longest distance travelled in a twenty four hour period with kites on skis. He documents his extreme expeditions on film and tells ExWeb about caring for cameras and filming in sub-zero temperatures, what damage sastrugi can do to food packaging and about frustrating long hours in the tent without enough books to read.

When kiting on Greenland bring a couple of books, he said to ExplorersWeb’s Correne Coetzer. “Conditions vary wildly. When the wind pulls a no show - you sit and wait for it. Sometimes for a day or two. It's good to bring something to read! I read two books and could have used a third.”

Currently Sebastian is in Europe taking a holiday with his family, spending a lot of time sailing and windsurfing. “I have a race boat. It's fun to be back on the water! It has been a long and busy year with finishing the editing and promoting my film "Into The Cold" about the centennial expedition I led to the North Pole last year with my partner Keith Heger. I haven't taken any time off since training for that trip last year.”

ExplorersWeb: Before you went kite skiing on Greenland, what was your kiting experience?

Sebastian: My experience kite skiing was limited to two training trips! One in Montana for a week last January, and ten days in Iqaluit in April.

I did not find the basic mechanics of kite skiing challenging. I won land kiting events when I was a teenager, and the handling is the same. I was on skis from the age of three and have been an avid windsurfer for over thirty years. The combination of those skills had me get the basics in twenty minutes.

That said, kiting is incredibly easy when everything is going well. It can go terribly wrong very quickly. It took a couple of crashes to accelerate the learning curve!

ExplorersWeb: If you now think back of the record day, what memories come to mind?

Sebastian: I had in mind to go for the record if the conditions would cooperate. We had a couple of days posting good mileage which were nice warm-up runs.

But the truth is, this type of record is very condition specific. We were lucky.

We had covered 260 kilometers the previous day and the wind had not let up all night. Consequently, I was upbeat about going for the record early in the day. I had rigged big and was sailing overpowered.

Eric had rigged smaller. Thirty minutes in, the gap in speed was too great and I encouraged Eric to rig bigger. By the first hour and a half, we had covered almost 100 kilometers. The wind pulled back a little, but by mid day we were 390 kilometers in!

I thought if this keeps up, we would pulverize the record. Instead, the wind dropped consistently and was marginal for the last few hours. Those were tough. It is one thing cruising at speed when you're exhausted - it keeps you focused. Working the kite when you can barely walk is a real mental challenge.

But we kept chipping at it. For the most part, the snow ice was very soft, eventually turning to powder. We could not have hoped for better conditions. I think we passed the record during hour seventeen. The last couple of hours are a blur.

After we passed the previous record of 518 km, we agreed not to look at the GPS until we had reached the twenty four hour mark. As it is, due to our break schedule we stopped fifteen minutes short.

All I remember was how wrapping the lines (seventy meters' worth) was painful so tired I was! Our knees were shot! But again, we were really lucky with the conditions.

ExplorersWeb: What difficult or not so pleasant experiences did you have on Greenland?

Sebastian: Getting pinned down in the tent for 126 hours due to winds exceeding 80 miles per hour definitely isn't anybody's idea of a good time!

It isn't just being stuck in a 4 feet by 7 feet tent for that long, it's also the unrelenting sound of the tent walls vibrating in the wind -- like the roar of a jet engine.

Other than that, the schedule is completely wind dependent. If it blows, you move; if it doesn't, you sit.

Consequently, your clock is constantly adjusting from day to night. It can be challenging.

ExplorersWeb: This was a preparation trip for your planned South Pole kite-supported coast to coast return expedition at the end of the year. What did you learn on Greenland that you would do different on Antarctica?

Sebastian: We flew large Ozone Yakuzas for most of the trip; they were remarkable -- 12 and 14 meters on extended lines. One frustration with extended lines is twists that develop over time; they invariably lead to headaches. I had three lengths assembled together on my kite for a total of 70 meters.

I will look into asking Ozone to make custom extended lines which would reduce some of that variable. In cold weather, this is not what you want to spend your time dealing with!

Antarctica will likely involve a significant amount of skiing, less kiting.

But we had terrible time with protein powder and electrolyte containment: the double layer freezer bags we zip locked them in were reduced to shreds from the intense shake and vibrations of moving at speed while kiting over sastrugi. The inside of our sleds were turned into sticky, wet, powdery mess that got into everything! Not to mention the loss of caloric powders.

In the end, small plastic containers with a screw on cap, wrapped in soft matter to absorb the shocks and vibration will definitely figure on next trip's preparation. Greenland kiters take notice!

ExplorersWeb: You are a professional photographer and took seven cameras on the Greenland expedition. How did you take care of your cameras while kiting?

Sebastian: Seven cameras includes redundancy - in the event of failure - and specialized gear for very specific shots, as well as a low-rez update camera, and a straight up HD handycam. The number seems daunting, but you go through it pretty quick; it is mostly a weight issue for me!

The same sastrugi vibration that reaped havoc with our powders applies to equipment, of course. I try to take great care of wrapping a jacket or sleeping bag around the gear to absorb some of the vibration.

My main cameras are Canons, which I have travelled with from Antarctica to the North Pole and have always been amazed with their durability under stress. Same with Lexar cards: they have always performed flawlessly. That said, Greenland is not that cold in May and June: temps rarely plummet below fifteen below.

ExplorersWeb: How easy is it to handle cameras in sub-zero temperatures and take so many photos and video footage?

Sebastian: Filming in cold environments is tough, and can quickly lead to cold injuries.

By definition, mittens must be removed for at least some of the work, and this can be painful: a camera body is made of steel, which reflects the outdoor temps. I wear liners, which helps a bit.

Don't wait until the fingers are completely numb before getting into the mittens again, if you can help it! By then, the inside of the glove itself will be cold too, and there is no warmth in the fingers to heat it up.

Sometimes, of course, that is not possible... I try to place mittens inside my jacket until I need them again, so at least they stay warm!

Filming while kiting can be pretty sporty! I have some rigs which are designed to remove holding issues, but mostly, there is a balancing act involved which has led - on one occasion at least - to a pretty spectacular blow-out!

I prefer traveling with a partner, partly to make filming more interesting: when alone, it's tedious to have no one to film after a while.

Filming a trip of this nature can get boring for a viewer as each day blends into the next. My approach is to try and approximate the sense of a third party capturing the footage.

On this type of mission, you need to cover the demanding physical requirements of the expedition first - the filming goes on top of that. I try to pepper filming with some unique shots to keep it interesting. Sometimes a scene is so spectacular that it has to be filmed, even when you're cold or tired. It is also generally the case when conditions are really tough!

But it has to be done: in my experience, if you don't capitalize on opportunities, they generally don't occur again.

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