Breaking News!
Congratulations to Sprague Theobald on (yet another) Emmy award, this time for The Other Side of the Ice!!!
Emmy Awards: DOCUMENTARY - TOPICAL
The Other Side Of
The Ice
KTXS
Sprague Theobald, Producer
Following a random discussion at a dinner
party in 2007, Sprague decided he’d like to try the scenic route. And you don’t
get more scenic (or exciting and dangerous) than taking the Northwest Passage
option.
Largely uncharted, volatile and frozen for
most of the year, the Northwest Passage has been the holy grail of shipping
companies for hundreds of years: this potential short cut between the Atlantic
and Pacific oceans would benefit shipping companies more than the Panama Canal
– but it remains wild and untamable, a fickle and gelid mistress inhabited by
towering icebergs, crushing ice floes, treacherous, uncharted shoals – and if
that were not enough, hungry polar bears that love humans in a different way
than a philanthropist does... The weather is not the most clement either:
changeable and stormy, with blankets of fog that reduce visibility to a few
yards – which is not the best way to navigate a fiberglass hull between
boulders of ice as the surface of the sea is freezing around you.
The 8,000 mile detour, which took a further
two years to plan and more or less everything Sprague possessed, was just as
much a voyage of discovery as it was a documentary-adventure – it would give
him and his grown-up children the opportunity to reunite and bridge
the gaps in time and distance that inevitably followed when he and his ex-wife
dissolved their marriage. You can preview Sprague’s novel The Other Side of the Ice and read much more about the fascinating
journey by visiting SpragueTheobald.com or watch the candid fly-on-the-wall
documentary of the adventure HERE.
Bagan
Sprague has kindly agreed to answer some of
my random questions about sailing, life, the universe, and everything (in no
particular order):
As captain of the Bagan, and with a crew comprising your children and close friends,
you must have felt a higher than average sense of responsibility for them. What
was your darkest hour in this regard?
Although they were all grown adults, having
my son and two stepchildren aboard brought and element of concern and safety
that played out in the worst of all possible ways during the two days we were
stuck in the ice. The Canadian Ice forecast had indicated and opening trend in
the ice flow in Peel Sound. Being a forecast, it was wrong and led us right
into an ice trap. We became firmly stuck in the ice, couldn’t move an inch
backward or forward, slowly being pushed toward a rocky coastline. One thought
kept going through my mind, “Have I brought my family together only to lead
them to their deaths?” Not something a father ever needs to ponder.
Your daughter Dominique played a big part
in forward-planning and logistics. She also took on handling any medical
emergencies by training under a doctor prior to the voyage – did she ever get
to try out any of her newfound healing skills?
During that five month period, time and
again it played out that we were being watched over by some very benevolent and
protective entity! I’m happy to report that although Dominique learned how to
handle just about any medical emergency, we never so much as broke out a
Band-Aid!
Catering for hungry diners can be difficult
under easy conditions. Now you’re older and wiser – on a future expedition –
what main course would you serve up to your crew that would lead to clean
plates all round?
Nothing, absolutely nothing beats the basic
hamburger! Vegetarians not withstanding, every time Dominique thawed some
burger meat and started preparing it, the galley was constantly filled with
admirers!
What item do you wish you’d taken with you
on the 150-day voyage?
Because of the global financial disaster in
2008, months prior to departure for the Arctic I lost every penny of my
funding. Needless to say that, unless it was safety equipment, at times I
couldn’t buy the best of the best. Having said that, I wish I’d bought the top
of the line satellite equipment. Our needed phone conversations and the ability
to upload articles and pictures was very frustrating in that 40% of the time we
could get a signal and at that perhaps 50% of the time we could keep the
connection.
What item do you wish you hadn’t taken?
Our captain…
When the going got really tough, your crew
responded in stoic unison as they faced the greatest challenges. This must have
made you proud of them and impressed with their growing and associated
strengths?
It was the same for all three of my
children; I got the chance to see them grow up. By that I mean I was able to
see them reach into some very dark and powerful places, asses the situation and
come out of it determined to survive. My son Sefton and I were very close
before the trip, my stepchildren, Dominique and Chauncey less so. By the time
the trip ended we had seen each other into some very scary and perhaps
terrifying situations, stood by one another and came out all the closer. I saw
them react and take on horribly complicated and demanding scenarios, all the
while not asking for help. I feel that each child reached a new “level” in
life, a deeper understanding of not only it but themselves that “normal” life
would never have afforded them the opportunity to do so. It was ironic – for
the “professional” that I hired simply fell by the wayside; when the going got
rough he buckled and collapsed mentally, physically & spiritually.
What is your favorite camera shot taken
during the expedition?
Hands down my most favorite shot was taken
by Sefton and Chauncey. We were in a remote anchorage while in Greenland and they
had hiked inland a few miles to snowboard a small glacier. They took the chance
to set the camera down, running, about half a mile away from the glacier. What
came from this was one of the most beautiful and haunting shots of two tiny
figures snowboarding on a very large and remote glacier. Perhaps the first in
history to do so?
How did the reality of the trip compare to
your expectations prior to the adventure?
The pressures of the trip; financially,
physically, emotionally, spiritually were more demanding than I could have ever
dreamt they would be. There was no way one could prepare for the tremendous
depths mine and all of our minds tumbled into. So deep and powerful were they
that I never used the set of noise-cancelling headphones I had aboard to listen
to music. I feared that if I allowed the music to take me and my troubles “away”,
when the music stopped I’d never be able to come back to reality. So fragile
was my mind. Trying to function within this fragility and make sure that all
regarded me and my leadership as “all’s normal” was a constant balance and I
hope that I was presenting a convincingly brave front!!
So what’s your next great adventure going
to be, or have you hung up your gloves for the time being?
When the trip ended I vowed to those who
love me that I would never play out of the backyard again. However... I’ve had
my eye on kayaking the length of the Connecticut River from Canada to the
Atlantic. I’d like to do a film and again, a book on the history that I find. That
takes money though, which I don’t have right now. I’m currently rewriting a
piece of fiction I wrote years back. I’ve also been approached about doing an
autobiography but don’t know if I feel I have that much to offer... yet.
Good luck with that, Sprague and thanks for
taking time to share your experiences.
The Passage
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