10x10 - Innovate & Overcome

[bunniefuu]

Narrator:
now, on "bering sea gold"...

♪♪

Shawn: here at the end of
the season, it's time to adapt,

And with that and the extension
on the sluice box,

We could catch another
$20,000 to $30,000.

There it is.

Hopefully,
we see a bunch of yellow!

Ken: the better gold is
out in the deeper water

Because a lot of the shallower
gold has been dredged.

With the myrtle,
shawn dreams of the day

He can go out where we go.

Let's do it!
Let's go!

Kris:
the season is coming to an end,

And I'm looking
for the home run.

I find this spot, all quartz,
and when you break it apart,

There's chunks of gold
everywhere.

Sounds like you need
and underwater jackhammer.

This sucks! [ Grunts ]

-We're in business.
-You're right.

Ken: we're going to get
a lot of gold.

-That's what we're looking for.
-There we go, baby.

-Oh, yeah.
-This is just good as it gets.

-Count it out, boys.
-Yeah!

--Captions by vitac--
www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪♪

Narrator:
winter in nome creeps up slowly,

And then, all at once,
it strikes.

Any day now, the fleet
will wake to find the bering sea

Has become a solid sheet of ice,

And with temps dropping,

Business as usual
isn't going to cut it.

This is the time
to roll the dice,

To adapt, innovate,
and overcome.

Everyone will succumb
to winter's icy grip.

The question is,
who will go quietly,

And who will go down swinging?

[ Birds calling ]



At the bluff...

I want to get this stuff done,
and we're going to go k*ll it.

We're adding onto
our sluice box.

We've put in a 4-foot extension.

We're doubling the box.

Narrator: captain shawn pomrenke
is getting creative

In a last-ditch effort to finish
funding his mega dredge

And counter
ken kerr's myrtle irene.

Shawn: we were running just
chunky, nice chunky gold,

Easy to catch.

Now we're into some finer gold,

And I don't feel like giving it
back to the bering sea.

With extending the sluice box
another 4 feet,

We're going to end up
catching a lot more fine gold.

We could catch up to another
$20,000 to $30,000,

And that's well worth it.

Narrator: mr. Gold is still over


Of the 1,200 ounces he needs
to feed the project's

Voracious construction budget,

And by making sure even
the smallest pieces of gold

Don't slip through the cracks,

The lofty goal is
still within reach.

As done as she's going to get.

Narrator: last week...

Shawn: we're going to have
this thing out today.

Narrator: ...shawn turned his
attention to the 633-ton barge

That'll be the foundation

Of his multimillion-dollar
mega dredge...

Shawn: keep going.
It's working.

Narrator: ...hauling
the platform onto the shore

To begin construction
over the winter.

Just moving it up to the nice
flat pad we got to work on it.

Narrator:
with the barge ready and waiting
for construction to begin...

Shawn: we're in business.

Narrator: ...shawn will need
to pack every inch

Of his super-sized sluice box
to pay for it.

I'm going to go look for that


I could spend the whole day
prospecting,

Or I could find
the mother lode.

Don't know until you try.

♪♪

All right.
I got decent vis.

♪♪

♪♪

Is it looking good?

♪♪

Oh, there we go.

♪♪

Come on.

What kind of gold
are you seeing down there?

Oh, yeah.
That sounds pretty good, man.

Suck it up.

♪♪



Off the coast of nome...

Ken: oh, yeah.

Like a dream, buddy.

Narrator: ...captain ken kerr is
building on his hot streak...

Ken: whoo!

Narrator: ...packing the sluice
of the 600-ton myrtle irene

With pay dirt.

Look at that, buckets
fricking 28 feet in the air.

Narrator: the largest dredge in
the fleet got off

To a shaky start,

But has finally made a dent
in ken's 2,000-ounce target...

Ken: whoo!

Narrator: ...courtesy
of a hard-charging week

Of round-the-clock mining.

Ken: hopefully we'll be doing
nothing but digging from now

On the rest of the season.

I haven't dug in this spot yet.
It's a fresh dig.

We're digging in the pay pile!

Whoa.

Man, that's hard.
Whoo-hoo!

That's some virgin ground
right there.

Any time it does you like that,
you know you're

In virgin ground.

Narrator: last week...

Ken: check it out.

Narrator: ...ken's bering sea
beast lives up to its name...

Ken: bam!

Narrator: ...chewing through
the gold grounds

En route to the largest cleanup
they've seen this season.

-200!
-Whoo!

Ken: 211.

Narrator:
and to keep up the pace...

Oh, yeah.

Narrator:
...arctic sea operations
manager george young...

George: copy, myrtle.

...pinpointed a fresh
spot for the myrtle.

I've marked my spot.

Ken: all right.
Well, good job, buddy.

Nobody has dug in this.
Nobody has dredged here.

If they did,
they just touched the surface.

They didn't dig
where we're digging.

You can't just go out there
and dig anywhere

Because a lot of the shallower
gold has been dredged and hit,

So the better gold is
out in the deeper water...

We're not deep enough.

Let's see if we can get down
through this layer a little bit.

Hello!

...and with the myrtle,we can
be sitting in 30 feet of water

And dig the bottom.

Come on, baby, dig!

♪♪

Compared to the christine rose,
they dig in 10, 12 feet,

So they just drool over
where we can dig.

Shawn dreams of the day
he can go out where we go.

[ Laughs ]

[ Sighs ]

Guarantee there's some gold
in that box now.

♪ In the money now ♪

♪♪

It's already starting to ice up,

So we've only got
a little window here.

We've got some good weather.

We're going to dig all night
to make this season work.

Emily: are we where we want
to be, daryl?

Daryl:
how's my direction?

We just need a box
full of gold today.

Kris: I'm going through
some darling material.

This is what I'm talking about.

Narrator:


At the bluff...

It's cold every day,
just today's a little colder.

It's, like, 29 degrees.

Narrator: ...with the mercury
dropping fast...

...captain kris kelly is hoping
there's still enough time

To take the irish
from subsistence miners

To nome gold kingpins.

All I can do right now
is concentrate,

Get as much gold as I can.

Narrator:
after losing lead diver
andy kelly to a medical issue,

Kris still has his sights
set on a 300-ounce season.

We're ready to go.

We need a box
full of gold today.

Narrator: last week...

Kris:
so I'm going to do this fast,
lightning prospecting.

Narrator: ...the captain
and default lead diver

Was forced to also take
on the job of prospector...

Kris: oh, yeah, baby!

Narrator: ...and managed
to put the reaperon

A new pay streak...

Kris: I can hear
the cha-ching of cash!



Narrator: ...that could make
his golden visions a reality.

Kris: even though I've been on
great gold all season,

Right now, I'm looking
for the big one,

The home run,
the 10-, 50-ounce pocket.

Let's make some money.

You could literally be 5 feet
away from $50,000 in gold,

And you're never
going to know about it

Unless you go over that extra


So you're always constantly,
"is it there? Is it here?

It could be there. Is it
a little bit more this way?"

It's a mind game beyond belief.

Here we go.

♪♪

Narrator:
while kris has single handedly
kept the family on gold...

Kris:
hey, dad, idle up.

Okay.

...today...

...following the trail
has left him between a rock

And a hard place.

How's it looking
down there, kris?

It's solid quartz.

Large deposits of quartz

Are a sign of ancient
volcanic activity...

Now, supposedly,
everywhere you find quartz,

There's supposed
to be gold.

...the same kind that forced
gold to the sea floor

From deep beneath
the earth's crust.

There's stories where
that gold vein

Should be right on the side
of this quartz.

As the theory goes, where
there's quartz, there's gold...

How am I going to
get in there?

...if you can get to it.

Sounds like you need
an underwater jackhammer.

Crowbar?

Crowbar.

It's the best way
I can figure out.

Boy, that's a lot of work.

This sucks!

[ Grunting]

Focus, kris, focus.

I'm going through some
gnarly material

Like you would not believe,

But I'm making it work
one way or another.

See how this is all
just coming out now?

See, that's just --
now it's just breaking apart.

♪♪

Oh, yeah!

That's what
I'm talking about.

I found a nugget.

Whoo!
It's waving.

"Take me home. Take me home,
kris. Take me home."

Hey, good job.

Daddy's little gold-getter,
getting gold.

You show that gold
who the boss is, kris.

My strategy is get gold
at any cost.

Great job.

♪♪

Narrator: 80 miles west...

Don't say that, daryl,
or you'll jinx it.

...nome's most successful
female dredge owner,

Captain emily riedel,

Is desperate to get
the eroicaback on pace

For a personal best season.

Emily: we left the boat out
last night.

You want to try to get back
to where daryl left off?

Yep.

With winter coming fast,
the steady march toward her


Has suddenly become a sprint.

There's still
some time left.

A few days ago...

...after a string of setbacks
put them off the gold...

Daryl: there's a whole bunch
of gold right here.

...emily and daryl
relocated the pay streak

In even deeper waters
on claim 14...

Daryl, I don't
like this weather.

I want to go.
-Wow.

But rough seas
at 40-foot depths force them

To shut down with only
a few hours on the box.

The boat lives
to fight another day.

My [bleep]
look at that attractive boat.

With the winter freeze
breathing down her neck,

Emily is saving every minute
she possibly can...

Yep.

...leaving the eroica
on the water to mark her spot

And cut down on the commute.

Emily:
every time we bring the boat in,
we are losing time.

You know, we have
to travel out there,

Put the gear down, fire
everything up, get anchored.

So leaving the boat out
on a good spot

Is the best way
to consistently produce.

We've drifted a little bit north
from where I was dredging

Last night.

Narrator: but overnight,
the bering sea spoiled her plan

To get back on the gold...

...and it's up to lead diver
daryl galipeau...

Daryl: I'm just going to
dredge my way south

And pull the boat with me.

Narrator: ...to walk the bottom
and try and pinpoint

The precious pay streak.

Emily: re-anchoring is
a frustrating lengthy process.

On top of that,
we might have a coordinate,

But that doesn't guarantee
that's where the gold was,

And so, instead, daryl can walk
the boat and see the bottom

And be able to kind of track
where he left off.

Daryl: here we go.

♪♪

Comm check.

Yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

You're heading
almost due south

With a little bit
of east mixed in.

You're at about 11:00.

Okay.

♪♪

♪♪

There we go.

Are we were we want to be,
daryl?

We are where
we want to be.

Narrator: after the world's most
painstaking 100-yard dash...

All right.

...the eroicais back
on the gold...

You know, this is going
to make ounce-an-hour.

Yes.

...at least as long as they can
keep the dredge on the water.

Well, hopefully
we're making money now,

And we're going to
put the calamity behind us

For the time being,
until tomorrow.

This is just
good as it gets.

Whoo, baby!

Dave:
I can get 300 yards an hour.

George: let's show ken
we can do it without him.

I got a lot of bills to pay
and not much time.

Narrator:
off the coast of nome...

Ken: we could be out here
all night doing this.

Narrator: ...captain ken kerr
is capitalizing

On a fully operational 600-ton
bering sea beast...

Ken: the myrtleis alive.

Narrator: ...chewing through
untouched ocean bottom

Deeper than any other
dredge can go.

Ken: hours and hours of digging,
what we need, day after day.

It is a numbers game.
It's a yardage game.

I can do 300 yards an hour.

I can swing that bucket
a cycle a minute.

That's a lot of material to run,

And you're in the biggest
pay pile in the world,

Digging in the ocean.

A quarter bucket of material
in this bucket

Is probably twice as much

As anybody else's
excavator up here.

We're shaking, and we're making.

There's gold in the box already.

I guarantee it.

We're going to
get a lot of gold.

Narrator: after a grueling


There's dave.

...business partner
dave young is coming onboard...

Ken:
we've got some good weather.
We're going to dig all night.

So I'm going to go ahead
and take a break.

Narrator: ...holding down the
fort while the captain rests up

For the night shift.

Ken: get my new operator up
here, let him dig a little bit,

And then I'll come back out,
and I'll run the night shift.

Yee-haw!

Whoo!

Hey, take a look
at that sluice box.

You see anything?

We got gold right here.
We got it there.

Right on.

Dave: we have a few investors
that we need to keep happy.

I'm feeling pressure
every day about it.

All right.
I got to go.

We need to do a minimum
of 30 ounces a day

To be profitable.

Adios!

Off to the races we go.

Narrator: to keep the myrtle
on the money...

-You ready?
-...veteran deckhand

Travis hanke steps up to swing
the largest excavator bucket

In nome.

-All right. We're ready to go.
-Let's do it. Let's go.

♪♪

♪♪

Dave: that's what we're looking
for right there --

Good cobble, good gold.

There's probably 2 ounces
of gold in there.

♪♪

Narrator: two miles west...

George:
temperature has dropped a lot.

Port is probably going to be
frozen tomorrow morning.

Narrator:
...arctic sea operations
manager george young...

What are you seeing,
landon?

...is on the water
for a final day

Of diving
with his son, landon...

...before the 21-year-old
airman first class

Has to return to active duty.

George: maybe move to
the other side of your hole

To get in
smaller overburden.

After spending most
of his season prospecting for

The myrtle irene,

Today could be
george's last chance

To make a dent in the 50 grand
he owes to his big brother dave.

We're on this area
that has good gold.

We call it the line.

Narrator: the last time george
hit the water for himself...

I'm thinking we can work
right on that edge...

...he mined the boundary
between two adjacent claims...

The strategy paid off...



...to the tune of $14,000.

Right on.

[ Grunts ]

But...

After 4 hours
under the water,

Landon can't seem
to fill the sluice.

Come on up.

George: he's kind of having a
hard time finding that good spot

Of gold right now,

So now I'm going to go down
and see if I can find it.

You know, even a blind squirrel
finds a nut every now and then.

I love it when my son comes up
and dives with me.

It's great.
He's an awesome diver.

He loves to swim, not afraid
of the water one iota,

But he was down there
for a few hours

And never did find
any good gold.

Narrator:
perhaps where youth failed,
experience will prevail...

I'll get on it.

...as dad suits up.

Ready to rock.

♪♪

♪♪

George: I'm on the bottom.

I have zero visibility.

Yeah.

If I put my face on the bottom,
I can see it.

Narrator: the onset of winter
brings rough seas

That churn up the ocean bottom,

Muddying the water
with sand and debris

That block sunlight
from reaching the sea floor.

George:
I'm getting towards the nozzle.

Hopefully there's gold.

Hey, what's going
on down there?

So right now he's working
away from the area

That I was
kind of working towards,

So hopefully
he hits some good gold.

Hey, dad.
Are you seeing anything?

George: nope.

I'm not seeing
any gold at all.

♪♪

Landon: that sucks.

He's still not
seeing any gold.

♪♪

♪♪

There we go, baby.

Now I'm liking
what I'm seeing.

♪♪

I think we got it.

I found it!

I'm going to
get us some gold.

Shawn: I hate losing gold.

Hopefully we see
a bunch of yellow!

Daryl:
a lot of gold in this area.

This cleanup is looking
really, really good.


At the bluff...

Kris: most of these quartz
pieces won't move at all.

Narrator: ...captain kris kelly
is in the middle

Of a punishing dive...

Kris: you have to break apart
all this crap,

And underneath,
there's gold.

...mining through
a bed of solid quartz

On the trail
of rich pockets of gold.

The hardest work
you'll ever do in your life,

But at least
there's gold.

Heavier than concrete
and harder than steel,

Quartz is one of the most
difficult materials

A miner can face.

Well, that's a little
chunky piece.

Do you see that?

Another nice chunky piece
left the nozzle.

Good job.

I'll tell you what.

When I turn this box off,
you're going to be happy.

He's having
a good day today.

I'm really tired, dad.

I'm trying to get
every last little bit

That I can before I go.

My hands are starting
to cramp up,

And my arms are
turning into noodles,

So I'm coming in.

Narrator: after 6 hours
of backbreaking labor...

Brad: you did a good job.

...the family's only diver
has given it all he's got.

Kris:
moving rocks with the crowbar,

That takes it out of you.

♪♪

Yeah, it was a hard day,
but, you know what?

Honest to god, it's been
a really hard process

To make it
to where I am right now.

This water is running,
and I can see a lot of gold.

Look.
I can see gold, now.

Just wait until
that [bleep] turns off.

We're still really far
from our season goal,

But there's still time
to reach that.

I just need to work
twice as hard.

Brad: another good day today
for the kellys.

Narrator:
just 200 yards away...

-Look at that.
-...on the havilah...

Shawn: there's gold there.
There it is.

Narrator:
...looking to counter ken kerr

And the myrtle irene...

Shawn: I'm just going to keep
grinding it out.

All right.

Narrator:
...captain shawn pomrenke
has jury-rigged his sluice box,

Stretching it out
to rake in every last ounce.

Cameron: the gold that
we've been mining earlier,

It's a lot finer
than what typically people

Are finding out here
on the bluff.

This new extension
on the sluice box,

I think we're going to be
catching most of it.

Shawn:
a nice little 1-ounce pocket
right here, at least.

Narrator:
with the end of mining season
right around the corner,

The upgrade could be just
what mr. Gold needs

To clinch
his 1,200-ounce goal...

Shawn: okay, coming up.
Check the sluice box.

Narrator:
...assuming it works.

Shawn: hopefully we see
a bunch of yellow!

Okay.

I hate losing gold.

You do all this work to go down
and get the gold.

You might as well keep
as much as possible.

♪♪

That don't look half bad, huh?

Narrator:
so far, the extension seems
to be right on point,

But the only way to know
for sure is to clean it out

And let the scale
tell the tale.

Making money.

♪♪


On the eroica...

Emily:
how you doing?

Daryl: I'm working the [bleep]
out of this area.

There's good gold here.

...after repositioning over
her pay streak, emily riedel

Is reaping the rewards
of the deep waters of claim 14.

You've been down over 5 hours,
so you're a beast, but, yeah.

Come on home.

Oh, okay.

Emily:
the days get a lot shorter.

The water gets really murky.

Everyone is tired.

That's kind of when
the die-hards start to emerge,

You know, people who continue
to take their boat out

And work in spite
of worsening conditions.

Lot of gold in this area.

Narrator: unruly weather
and mechanical failures

Have chipped away at her
dive time all summer long...

All right, daryl.
Let's get out of here.

...but emily is gutting it out
to stay on track

For her best season as a miner.

Emily:
all is well that ends well.

That's the crucial point,

Putting one frigging foot
in front of the other,

And sometimes
that's all that matters.

This cleanup is looking
really, really good.

Narrator:
at the clean-out shack...

Emily: gold is looking good.

Narrator: ...the scale will tell
whether emily's determination

Is enough to reach
her 500-ounce goal.

Emily: let's see how we did.

That's 20.







All right.





[Bleep] yes, 70 ounces!

Yes.

Narrator:


That's amazing.

Narrator: proof positive that as
the weather gets colder,

The eroicaand captain emily
are still red-hot.

Awesome, freaking ace.

There are very few things
more beautiful in the world

Than 70 ounces of gold
sitting in a jar.




That this last push

That we're making is working.

That's some beautiful
gold right there.

Shawn: this is how
you turn dirt into gold.

Here we go.

Ken:
we're getting our ounces up.

Man: count it out, boys.
Look at that gold!

If I was casting
"bering sea gold" as a movie,

Who would play
shawn pomrenke?

Mel gibson.

He's just a good actor.

John malkovich for shawn.

Emily:
if I were to cast myself,

I would want owen wilson
to play me.

Not enough actresses have
a good emily riedel nose.

I mean, it's very essential
to character development.

I don't know his name.

You know, the main character
from "zombieland"?

Put a wig on that dude, and he
looks just like emily riedel.

To cast kris kelly,
I would say steve buscemi,

The weird googly eyes.

I would like james franco
to play me.

I think him and I
would get along.

[ Chuckles ]

Narrator:
off the coast of nome,

On the
all about nuggets...

George: whoo!

What are you seeing
down there?

...as temperatures drop in the
final days of summer mining...

I think
I got a cluster.

...captain george young
is putting in

One last day
of diving with his son...

It definitely sucks
that I have to leave

Because I want to find
a bunch of gold.

...before landon's military
leave comes to an end.

♪♪

Oh, my [bleep]

♪♪

Landon.

But after 7 hours
of murky mining...

...duty calls.

Okay.

I'm coming up.

Okay.

Thank you.

George: basically, no vis,
but I thought maybe

I could try to mine a little.

Time will tell.

Maybe we got


I got to get ready
to take landon to the airport.

He's got to get back to work,
the air force.

He just loves being here
with the adventure.

It's awesome, and the gold
is just a little cherry

On the top for him.

Oh, there's a picker.

It sucks seeing him leave.

It was nice having
him on the boat.

This is more than we've seen
in the box all year.

Good job.

I'll miss him, but it was
great to have him here

When he was here.

Why don't we go ahead
and get back to port?

Narrator:
on the outskirts of nome...

Shawn:
things are looking good.

Narrator:
...at the pomrenke compound...

Turning yellow!

...after a run at the bluff
with a super-sized sluice box...

And this is how you
turn dirt into gold.

...captain shawn pomrenke
needs a big way out

To prove that size matters.

Shawn: this should look
really good going up the wheel.

Tablespoons full of --

$10,000 Tablespoons,
that's what I do.

Narrator: if so, he may have
found the means to satisfy

His 825-ton mega dredge's
construction budget...

Shawn here we go.

...and put ken kerr's
myrtle irenein check.

♪♪

Shawn: 10.



Oh, I figure
there's about 60 here.





Narrator: 147 ounces
is worth an impressive $191,000.

Boy, that fine gold is pretty.

Narrator: it's shawn's biggest
strike of the summer

And a huge step towards
his 1,200-ounce goal.

Shawn: all right.

Put it in the safe,
and go make some more.

Narrator: across town...

Ken: head over to the
cleanup shack here,

See how my cleanup
crew is doing.

Narrator: ...captain ken kerr
is clocking back in...

Ken: hopefully we got
some gold in there.

Let's go see what they got.

Narrator: ...to see if business
partner dave young

Was able to keep
the myrtle irene

Marching toward their


What's going on?

Dave: what's up, kenny?

Ken:
we're getting our ounces up.

We're hopeful that we turn
this thing around this year

And really bring
in a good season.

Kenny, you ought to feel
some gold right here, buddy.

Gee whiz!

Narrator: ...and find out if
the virgin ground prospected

By operations manager
george young

Is rich enough to continue
the myrtle'shot streak.

Dave: count it out, boys.

Look at that gold!

Man #3: that's good.




-How much is that
going to weigh?
-Look at that.



-149-Point -- there.
-There, 150.

Narrator: 150 ounces
is worth $195,000...

Look at all that gold.

...a massive haul for 4 days
of round-the-clock mining.

Ken: that's a nice cup
of gold there.

Left it all over to dave
and my crew to see

If they could get her done.

Smile! Come on.
This is the team right here.

They did a real nice job.

-Man, look at that.
-Look at it, baby.

You know, when you're
a winning team, it's good.

All right.
That's my pan of gold.

This is pure gold.

Narrator: as winter closes in,

Ken kerr is just
one big clean-out

Away from taking the top spot.

On the season finale
of "bering sea gold"...

Shawn: harbor is froze up.

Last chance to get
as much gold as possible.

We'll pull the season out yet.
Nothing is stopping me.

Oh, yeah. I'm pushing it.
All right.

We won't be outdone.

Kris:
winter conditions are coming.

We're last man standing
because we're just

Too stubborn to go home.

Emily: the end is coming.

It would be great to end
the season making money.

[ Man shouts ]

Man #4: oh, we're screwed.

It's time to see
what the scale says.

Shawn:
we need this one to be big.

-Go out with a bang.
-Yes!

Kenny k. Came to nome.

Narrator: then, in 2 weeks...

Well, the reason I asked you
to come down here

And meet with me is,
I'm going to make you an offer.

♪♪

♪♪