I caught over an hour of this last night. While the roleplaying of meeting the Giant/Half-giant ship from [Toril er...whatever the name of the mountain region was] did not exactly make for an electrifying televised gaming scene, I very much enjoyed the skill challenge which later developed when the party's ship had to escape from the Kraken.
I thought the use of an egg timer during the skill challenge was useful and your players seemed very involved and engaged. A fine skill challenge/encounter that seemed to play very well.
The skill challenge mechanic in 4E is one of its best innovations. Run poorly, it reduces a RPG game to roll playing at its worst; done properly, it is a mechnic that can be easily retrofitted on to 3.xx and Pathfinder -- and has been retrofitted on to Star Wars:SE with great results - and can produce roleplaying at its best. To praphrase Davis St. Hubbins: It's a fine line between clever and stupid.
All by way of saying, I congratulate you and your group on demonstrating how a well done skill challenge can be adapted to almost any situation with exciting and cinematic results.