Original subtitles

[narrator] On this episode of How Tech Works.

We’ll meet the inventor

of the world’s lightest and most portable watercraft.

And we’ll vault away

in this extreme Dutch sport called fierljeppen!

[electronic music]

[intro music]

Hi there, and welcome to How Tech Works.

I’m Basil Singer.

And we have a boatload of cool stories about

new inventions, cutting edge technology

and a Dutch sport that combines pole-vaulting...

with puddle jumping.

[narrator] We’ll meet the father-son team responsible

for keeping this 100 year old clock tower ticking

and we’ll take a ride on a bucking bronco

that’s controlled by your emotions.

But first...

what do you get when you take an extremely long pole,

a field of ditches and streams

and over one hundred years of Dutch tradition?

The answer is both intriguing...

and difficult to pronounce!

It’s called fierljeppen,

and this competitive sport

is even more challenging than it looks.

[soft vibrant music]

[narrator] Like all good athletes.

Jaco de Groot trains as often as he can.

Some of that training and preparation is rather ...

specialized.

He’s the Dutch national champion

at a sport that involves a very, very, long pole.

[Jaco de Groot ] Fierljeppen is a

typical Dutch sport where you have a pole and you

try to jump as far as possible.

And you do this by jumping over water.

[narrator] Fierljeppen started centuries ago.

With farmers simply trying to cross their properties.

In the Netherlands there are all ditches everywhere!

So it's...

40m land, ditch, 40m land, ditch and so forth.

[narrator] Today it’s an extreme sport.

With carbon fiber poles and trained athletes.

Pieter Hielema has been coaching Jaco for the past two years.

[Pieter Hielema] If you stand here and

you look to the other side it’s 20m further.

That’s how far they jump. It goes fast. It’s explosive.

[narrator] Jaco’s record is 21 meters.

[Pieter Hielema] Go, go, go...

To be good in our sport...

you need coordination, strength, speed.

[narrator] First there’s the approach.

[Jaco] If you run too fast, you go pretty quick to

the other side, you're not to the top.

If you run too slow that’s also nice,

then you fall in the water. [laughs]

[narrator] Then there’s the contact.

[Jaco] You have two ways to jump on the pole.

One is the natural way to dive to the pole.

your legs are about here...

and then... your back is curving

and before your legs are here it takes a long time.

So the natural way is not really good.

You need to train the way with your knee inside.

So it’s quick. I can show you.

Like this.

[narrator] In that same motion,

your head needs to be centered behind the pole

to avoid falling to one side or the other.

And hand position is also important.

[Jaco] If you’re too low,

then your weight is lower and then you go quick.

If you grab too high, you fall in the water.

[Jaco] You walk about 30 kph to the pole.

And the pole is standing still, so you have...

not one second, not a half second, but less

to decide to do it good.

[narrator] Then climb the 13-metre

or three and a half story pole

as fast as possible before it comes down on the other side.

[Pieter] you have to jump off the pole so you have to

bend your body almost like pole vaulting high,

but... in a horizontal direction.

[narrator] Of course it doesn’t always go well.

[Jaco] Every jump today

is better than your best jump on Monday.

[narrator] On average, one in three jumps ends in the water.

[crowd screaming]

[speaks Dutch]

[narrator] There’s a friendly rivalry

between the north and south of the country.

Jaco’s top dog in the south.

But he lost to a guy from the north

in last year’s red bull nationals.

There’s one purpose for me and that’s winning the competition.

Last year I was second but now I want to be first.

[narrator] The weather isn’t great

for today’s qualifier. But the athletes are focused.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] Among them Jaco’s younger brother.

[speaks Dutch]

You don’t want to be beat by your brother!

[narrator] Competitors have four rounds to make their mark.

[loudspeaker] Go, go, go!

[narrator] Jaco’s first jump looks good.

But he’s not happy.

The power was not there today.

It’s more because of the wind and...

the walking a little bit wet.

So slippy.

So it’s tough.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] Everyone’s fighting the wind and the rain.

[Pieter] Normally when there’s rain

we don’t really continue jumping.

But it’s such a small drizzle.

I think they might stop. Actually they stopped.

I’m looking behind and I see that

they stopped the match because it’s too much.

[narrator] That’s too bad for Jaco.

That last jump counts. But it’s not his worst.

[Jaco] It was when I was 14 years old.

I was practicing and I fall with

my feet in the water and with my head to the side.

So it was a very tough landing.

[laughing] I always look out now because I still remember.

[loudspeaker]

[narrator] Things improve when the rain lets up.

[yelling] go, go, go!

[narrator] Jump number three looks better.

[Jaco] It’s some more so it’s quite okay.

But... I'm not satisfied.

[Jaco] He’s only at 16m.

For him it’s enough to qualify because he was...

ended up in 2nd place last year,

so he only had to jump over the water.

[narrator] Overall, it may not have been

the best day for competition.

[Pieter] What a bad match... awful.

[Jaco laughs]

[narrator] But it’s all a part and parcel... of fierljeppen.

It’s really cool but crazy.

It’s a lot of fun. And also... so much power and technique.

You’ll see the wind and nature...

everything can go wrong. And if it’s going...

if it’s all complete, one jump,

then you won’t forget it for your life.

[speaks Dutch]

This next story takes us all the way to sunny California.

where we catch up with a unique individual

doing his part to one-up a jet ski.

Now that might sound like a tall order

but given that he's the creator of the world’s lightest

and most portable watercraft, he might just have a shot at it.

His name is Jason woods.

And his personal watercraft is catching the attention

of the local search and rescue team.

[upbeat music]

[narrator] Fun on the water.

There’s nothing like it.

Unless you’re on a lake where it’s just a royal pain

to haul your boat out to the water.

And then what? Jason Woods has a plan.

The world’s smallest personal watercraft.

The Kymera is a jet-powered bodyboard.

It flies completely in the face of everything

personal watercraft manufacturers

are doing right now.

[narrator] At just 16 kilograms,

you just pick it up and head to the water.

[Jason] You got a start button, [motor noises]

for the electric start. And a kill button to shut it off.

And a throttle control to control the engine speed.

Other than that steering is accomplished by

shifting your weight left and right.

[narrator] It’s not just for personal pleasure though.

Jason’s invention could soon be saving lives..

Today, the rescue community

gets its first look at the Kymera jet board.

Only a handful of people,

close family mostly, have ever really seen this thing.

So it's really exciting to be able

to unveil this to the search & rescue team today.

[narrator] Jason’s spent years

toiling on this project in his garage.

the rescue team’s feedback will be crucial

for his dreams of making this a reality.

Will they be impressed?

Jason woods loves being on the water.

Growing up in Napa in Northern California,

the only choice was to hitch the boat up to the truck,

and haul her off to the lake.

His search was on to find an easier,

more economical way to get out on the water.

[Jason] I had to be able to just pick it up.

I had to be able to fit it in my car

so I could get it to the lake

walk it down to the water,

and throw it in and go ride.

[narrator] He started putting pen to paper.

[Jason] I had to figure out

what it was going to look like and how it would work.

You can see here some of the early designs.

It's more or less a sled to go in the water.

[narrator] From the design board to the garage.

[Jason] Might just want to hold off on that

till we get it re-located down lower.

The first problem I ran into was that

because nothing like this has ever been done before

there's no parts that exist for something like this.

[narrator] His first attempts just didn’t float...

literally.

[air bubbles]

[narrator] Finally, his third prototype works well.

But it’s still not quite up to size.

The thing is so small.

You weigh exponentially more than the craft itself does.

So the smallest shift in weight can

really change the center of gravity.

It can really change where the waterline is.

Now that it's been proved that it could be done,

the idea is to move into the big scaled-up jet ski pump

with a much more powerful engine.

[narrator] The newest model will pump up the power

from about two horsepower, and about nine miles per hour,

to 18 horsepower and about 35 miles per hour!

[narrator] Now, though, Jason’s project

has taken on a more urgent nature.

It all came about once Jason let the word out

that he was working on this jet board.

As soon as I did that, I found that

the whole concept was much bigger than I'd realized.

[Jason] Today we've got the search & rescue team from

Marine County coming out to take a look at this.

To kind of evaluate and give me their feedback.

Moving into the 4th version, really of give me the things

I need to take to heart and put into this,

to make it as ideally suited for their job as possible.

[soft vibrant music]

[Jason] You must be Kai. I am, I am. Jason?

[Jason] I'm Jason. Hey, nice to meet you.

Yeah nice to meet you.

So this is it, at long last.

That's an impressive looking board.

[Jason] Yeah this idea was just to get

something how small and how light can it be done.

You can just shift your body weight

and it goes where you want it to go.

[narrator] Some of the crew

get called off on an emergency,

but the other are anxious to see

Jason take the Kymera for a demonstration.

[motor noises]

[Kai] It's light, it's quick, the concept's there for sure.

It's so portable you can carry it down to the dock.

[Kai] It's definitely going to outswim somebody, you know.

Safety's always our number one priority.

And if that increases the safety of that

rescue swimmer going out to the victim,

then it's absolutely something we'd be

interested in looking at in the future.

I think it's great, to try and spearhead

something like this, to affect people's lives

and to change lives by saving one, my hat's off.

[sighs]

It's a little overwhelming. You know, being able to

have all these guys here and look at this thing

and to really make it real.

To be here at the water with these guys,

and shake their hands, and to know what they

go out and do every day.

I mean they had to go run off

while they were here to help somebody!

I mean, it really drives it home

how important this is, and it just drives me

to get this thing done as soon as possible

and into their hands so,

if this thing can save one life,

it justifies every year that I've put into it.

Coming up on How Tech Works.

[narrator] This old clocktower has been keeping

proper time, for over 100 years.

We go behind the scenes to find out how it’s done.

And...

this bucking bronco has a mind of its’ own... giddy up!

[laughing]

Welcome back to How Tech Works.

I'm basil singer.

Now, it’s no secret that the world of tech

has gone from analog to digital.

And this applies to all sorts of stuff.

Music, TV and timekeeping.

But in downtown Toronto, Canada,

one of the city’s oldest clocktowers

has been keeping the correct time

for more than one hundred years.

And that’s without the help of modern technology.

More recently this has been made possible

thanks to one particular family of experts.

[soft vibrant music]

[narrator] In downtown Toronto you can‘t miss this.

Old city hall with its clock tower.

Despite the fact it is over 100 years old

and not digital like everything else these days

this clock tells time... accurately.

Thanks to this father and son team of clock workers.

Twice a month David and Phil Abernethy

climb the 286 stairs up the bell tower to look after the clock.

En route they stop to check on the bells.

[David] We physically check to see if everything

is in good shape up there and hanging the way it should.

And the fulcrums that pull the hammers.

We have to make sure they are in good condition.

Cables do tend to fray from time to time and come loose.

[narrator] Every 15 minutes the clock bells sound off.

[David] We’ve got what we call a tenor bell

That's 11,000 plus pounds of bell hanging there.

This guy is the hour bell that you hear for the hour.

and these two bells are the quarter bells,

and it's just the two notes.

We call it a Ting Tang.

[bell rings]

[narrator] Two O clock. Time to climb some more stairs.

[David] Hello baby, daddy is back.

[narrator] At the top of the tower

encased in glass is the century old mechanism that keeps time.

[David] The tower is made of masonry.

And wherever there is masonry, there's masonry dust.

It oxidizes, it goes on the floor.

It's tramped away. The dust settles on these parts.

This is in a cabinet to keep as much of it away as possible.

[soft uplifting music]

[narrator] It’s in good shape now.

But it wasn’t when the Abernethy family

first started working on it in 1992.

[Phil] I was pretty taken aback

because it was acutely neglected.

There were lots of incredibly worn gears.

This very important component of this clock

which makes it quite unique, is called a Remetoire.

Those series of components was in serious disarray.

So...

we took those components and we built them

basically to the original pattern.

[narrator] If David and Phil hadn’t restored this part,

the clock could very well have shaken itself to pieces.

Right now what I am doing is checking the ratchet work here

on the fan we've just replaced this recently.

And each service visit

we’ll check these parts really carefully.

[narrator] This fan plays a key role

in stopping this clock from self-destructing.

It is a shock absorber, a power absorber.

It's very normal and you find this in a lot of

industrial machinery, particularly in clocks.

You know... that's what that is.

And this is something we really keep a close watch on.

Big Ben was destroyed by it.

It cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.

All because of one of these failing.

And the clock was out of service for a very long time.

[narrator] The Rementoire keeps

the clock’s mechanical pressure balanced so it can stay on time.

[machinery noises]

And then when you’ve done that, get this one here.

[narrator] The Abernethy's

who have been in the clock making business

for over 30 years haven’t seen too many of these.

There is only one of four types of

this type of Rementoire that exists in the world.

So... we did a lot of research.

I went to the U.K twice to study similar examples.

I came back with that knowledge and we were able to restore it.

[narrator] So, now they need to ensure

it keeps working properly.

[David] Rementoire is a very complex,

delicate piece of machinery.

Some people might think it's as simple matter

of throwing oil all over it and its going to work.

Well it is not so.

[narrator] The real enemy here is dust.

This is the way you brush your teeth, brush your teeth.

[laughs] [clock teeth rattles]

Yes we are cleaning the teeth.

You have got to keep the teeth clean from all...

lubricants that have congealed.

Because it wears away these wheels.

[narrator] Not only have David and his son Phil

been working on their clock, so has Phil's son martin.

[David] You are going to clean down the back there right?

[narrator] This is not the only clock

the Abernethy's are taking care of.

but it holds a special place for them.

I am the third generation that is worked on this clock.

[metal teeth rattle]

Maybe there will be a fourth.

I wouldn’t miss the stairs.

But I would miss the machine,

especially the Rementoire because it is unique.

Because it is a listed historical item.

and many, many people come to the city

and if they don’t see our clock working properly

What are they thinking?

We consider it a civic responsibility as much as a job.

[soft uplifting music]

Finally... I don’t know about you,

but when I was a youngster at school

the possibility of becoming a “thrill engineer”

when I grew up, was never really on the cards.

Because such an occupation did not exist...

or so I thought.

But that’s exactly what this team

from Nottingham call themselves.

And these thrill engineers have come up

with a ride unlike any other.

it responds to your emotions while you ride.

So step right up and slide onto

the saddle of the bucking bronco-matic.

[soft Mexican music]

[narrator] At the university of Nottingham,

something wild is happening.

These mad scientists are wiring each other from head to toe.

This is an experiment designed for one reason.

To create a thrill ride.

The likes of which, the world has never seen.

[Brendan] We’re aiming to create rides that can

customize themselves to each riders physiology,

to create the most thrilling ride possible.

[drum roll]

[narrator] Brendan walker and his team

of thrill engineers want to design the ride of the future.

One that can sense and react to

each and every rider’s emotional state.

[soft vibrant music]

[Brendan] If I'm not excited by a ride,

the ride itself could start manipulating my experience

and tailoring itself to me

and my psychological needs.

[narrator] It all started six years ago.

When Brendan created a formula

that could actually work out those kinds of numbers.

The thrill factor is when you get,

a rapid and large change in pleasure and arousal.

The bigger they are, the bigger the thrill factor is.

It was at that point we moved from a sort of

subjective exploration.

Through to a very scientific objective analysis

of the thrilling experience.

[narrator] With the help

of a mechanical bull, the team brings

the theme park right inside the lab.

Good?

Fantastic.

It was a very simple experiment

We have one rider riding the ride,

collecting all the data.

[narrator] The electrodes on the rider track heart-rate,

sweat-levels, and even the movement of

smile and frown muscles on their face.

All these data gets sent back to the operator.

[Brendan] We were interested in the ride operator

interpreting that data and making ride control decisions

based on, purely on that medical data.

[narrator] If the rider’s not

as excited as he should be

the operator can crank it up.

The first step in creating this sort of

feedback control system for the ride.

[narrator] But this, is just the beginning.

[soft vibrant music]

[narrator] With some geeky DIY modifications

the guys now take the human out of the loop completely.

[machine noises]

[narrator] At one end of the circuit

a fully-automated bucking bronco-matic

At the other end...

a simple breathing monitor is strapped to the rider.

As Brendan breathes

you can see on the laptop screen

we can see his breathing going up and down.

and our control panel robot is actually moving the bronco.

So as Brendan breathes out,

the bronco goes one way.

And if Brendan breathes in the bronco

goes back the other way.

It’s like a horror film setting.

We’ve now got a computer controlling a human’s enjoyment.

If I hold my breath...

I think I'm going to be able to stay on quite a while.

But it’s how long I can hold my breath for which is the trick.

[laughs]

Rider one. Are you ready?

Not really. [laughs]

Okay...

3, 2, 1...

Go!

[electronic music]

[narrator] Even though his own body

is steering the wheel Brendan has no control of the ride.

[music continues] [laughs]

When you’re horrified and you become scared

you’re breathing becomes shallow,

panicked, it becomes quickened.

I’m struggling...

to control my breathing...

but it’s, quite hard!

[music continues]

It’s surprisingly difficult and try as you might to control it,

every time it twitches, you just want to laugh

or scream, which makes it go even faster.

[heroic music]

[narrator] For the bronco- matic’s final test

our producer and cameraman decide to give it a shot.

After a well-fought and valiant battle

both... are handily defeated.

I am going to beat it! I am going to beat it!

[narrator] For now...

bronco-matic is just a prototype.

But it’s proof

that thrill rides can be custom-made just for you.

Though the idea is never going to save lives

to Brendan...

thrilling people to death is just as good.

We all want to experience thrill in our lives.

It’s part of what makes us tick.

[machine noises] [laughs]

[Brendan] I think a life

without thrill would be really empty.

[camera noises]

[laughs]

That’s it! There's no more time I'm afraid.

Thank you very much for watching How Tech Works.

I’m Basil Singer, and I’ll see you next time.

[ending music]