For anybody who has not seen a dragonboat, they are very long, very narrow, and very fast boats holding twenty very strong paddlers sitting side by side. I believe they originated in Hong Kong. In the bow is a drummer beating out the rhythm for the paddlers, and standing in the stern is the helmsperson with a long sweep oar doing his best to keep the boat on course.
Making our way through the crowds, we managed to find a spot both relatively free of people and with an unobstructed view of the races. Thinking back on it now, I am not at all surprised by this because the spot they chose to set up their very expensive camera was not high and safe on the seawall with the rest of the spectators, but right down there on the water, perched precariously on a pile of rocks with salt spray blowing in every direction. In addition to carrying one of their gear bags, I made myself useful by serving as a wind and salt spray barricade, jumping out of the way each time Peter panned the camera in my direction.

Since we had arrived just in time for the final races, the excitement level was at a fevered pitch and tensions were running high. Every team had their own special, brightly colored, uniforms, with some featuring flowing pennants that danced in the breeze. Gale force winds are a more appropriate way to describe the conditions under which these races were held. Trying to maneuver six very long boats into a straight line so that none of them crossed the starting line too soon and to make sure that they were in position in the middle of their racing lane was no easy thing to do.

A number of boats actually capsized and more than one sunk before it made its way to the starting line. Once all the boats were in position, the race began. Never have I seen so much energy erupt in such a small amount of time--with perhaps the possible exception of a space shuttle launch. The boats literally burst out of their starting positions and moved with remarkable speed along the course. Each team's fans cheered, drums pounded and the race announcer called the play-by-play over the public address system. It was quite an experience and one that I am very glad to have witnessed firsthand.

As we were packing up the camera gear before finally heading off to the NIWA lab, I spotted something that seemed to have come from another time. It was large, black-hulled sailing ship steaming into the harbor, silhouetted by the hills of Wellington. I later learned that the ship was a local sail training vessel named the Spirit of Adventure.

When we finally arrived at the NIWA lab at 5:30 in the afternoon, Steve had the giant squid arranged on one of the large dissecting tables. This squid, Steve told us, was a small (1 meter mantle length, approximately 30 kilograms in weight) but fully mature male that was filled with spermatophores. Without getting into too many details, I did learn that spermatophores are the long white, rod-shaped structures with spring-like coils at one end, that are used by males to transfer sperm to females during mating. The spermatophores burrow into the female and find their way to the eggs which can then be fertilized.

To demonstrate that it is not just Architeuthis that are found in a condition like this, Steve brought out a pail that contained a relatively small species of squid named Moroteuthis. The writing on the pail said "Moroteuthis, oversized mature male". I am not sure as to the scientific protocol used for describing specimens, but in this case we all agreed that it was certainly quite accurate.

After the interview was over and the film crew had packed up their gear and headed off to the hotel, Steve and I stayed behind to finish cleaning up the lab and to prepare the squid for preserving. Yet again I found myself up to my elbows in squid as we carefully slid the squid into a large blue plastic tub and placed it once again in the boot of Steve's car. We used the squid to hold open the door to his lab while he went in search of the breathing masks that we needed to wear before we could go into the formalin-filled room where we had placed the other squid last week.

After donning our masks we entered the room and removed the lid of the coffin-like tank. Through my mask, Steve could hear me gasp as I saw once again the squid that we had measured before. I had forgotten how large it was, literally filling the entire tank. Steve carefully placed the squid in the tank. The new one, including arms, was barely as large as the other one's mantle. Thinking again about the largest known recorded squid being almost sixty feet long, I began to think that perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea that I was not going to be able to get to dive to the depths of Kaikoura Canyon in the Deep Rover after all.