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18 years after Valdez spill, a fisherman's fight goes on
By MIKE LEWIS
P-I REPORTER
Michael McLenaghan understands how easy it can be to have a life defined by a single event. He doesn't want to be that guy, the one for whom every conversation marches to the same place, the one people back away from at a party or at lunch when they see a familiar head of steam building -- again.
"I try not to let myself be defined by that disaster," the 51-year-old ex-Seattle skipper said by cell phone from Washington, D.C. "I don't want to be known as 'the angry man.' "
Yet he can't always help it. It's that anger that spurred him to buy a plane ticket and fly 3,000 miles across the country and walk into the U.S. Supreme Court to witness the latest installment in a nearly two-decade serial known as the Exxon Valdez civil court case, or more specifically, Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker.
And it's that anger that even after 18 years can swing from simmer to boil when he rehashes what he had, what he lost and what he's learned in the years since a tanker ran aground on Bligh Reef near Prince William Sound and simultaneously unleashed the nation's largest oil spill and longest-running civil case.
McLenaghan's story, in brief: "I grew up in Ballard and went to Ballard High. A lot of my friends were fishermen and they seemed to do pretty well. I looked into going into the service, but it didn't pay. I grew up in a blue-collar family and I didn't really have any aspirations of going to college -- something I changed with the next generation.
"I advertised my services at Fishermen's Terminal. At first, fishing was something to do in the summer. But then I found I was pretty good at it."
So McLenaghan worked his way up the ranks. In two years, he was running his own gillnetter. At 24, he skippered a salmon and herring purse seiner. In 1989, he'd made enough money to go all in: $1 million in savings and loans -- everything he had -- to buy a 50-foot boat and licenses for Prince William Sound herring, Cook Inlet herring and Chignik salmon.
Two months later, at 11 p.m. on March 23, 1989, Capt. Joseph Hazelwood retired to his stateroom and left third-mate Gregory Cousins in charge of the tanker Exxon Valdez as it sailed toward Washington.
McLenaghan hadn't yet fished a single day on his new licenses or boat. "I had just dumped all of my money into it. You know how it goes, how you buy a business and that first year is pivotal.
"Once the oil spill hit, it zeroed me out."
So McLenaghan started selling stuff. So did every other fisherman, from Seattle to Alaska, who depended on the closed fisheries. And it was not, to put it plainly, a seller's market.
His daughter was 3 at the time. Today, thanks to good grades and healthy loans, she's a junior at Stanford.
Eventually, with more loans, McLenaghan mostly dug himself out from under the Valdez disaster. In 2000, he moved his family from Seattle and began working the squid fisheries off Santa Barbara. In the time since the spill and the first 1994 jury award for $5 billion, he had another daughter. She's a junior in a California high school.
Exxon, for its part, also appears to have recovered. In recent years, the company has set records as the most profitable in world history, netting nearly $40 billion in 2006 alone.
And now McLenaghan finds himself in Washington, D.C., still fighting for the money he and several juries believe the oil giant owes to thousands of fishermen who put their life savings into businesses built on what were once some of the world's richest fisheries.
During Wednesday's oral arguments, which if legal experts are to be believed could mark the end of the litigation, McLenaghan said it appeared as if the high court remained skeptical of Exxon's myriad claims -- from not having legal responsibility for Hazelwood's stewardship to already having paid plenty for cleanup and compensation.
But then again, it's hard to say what the justices are thinking. He does know this: When he thinks about the money he lost, about the fishermen the spill broke, it's hard not to be angry. He feels the company should pay for the business he lost, his $1 million.
"What they are going to pay me is not going to make me happy," he said after the arguments concluded. "The $2.5 billion plus interest (the jury award under appeal) -- is it enough to make us whole? No way.
"But is it enough to make me shut up and stop being the angry man? Yes, I guess it is."
Northwest Dungeness crab: The deadliest catch
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
17 lives were lost in the past seven years — 13 in Oregon waters, four off the Washington coast — making it the most hazardous Pacific crab harvest.
They head out to sea in pursuit of a crab's sweet meat. Months of sleep-deprived labor can pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars for a top-grossing vessel. Their death toll — 17 lives lost in the past seven years — makes this the most lethal Pacific harvest.
These are not the Bering Sea crabbers who gained fame on the Discovery Channel's reality series, "Deadliest Catch," but the Dungeness-crab crews who toil in anonymity off the Washington and Oregon coasts. Since 2000, their death rate has been 50 percent higher than that of Bering Sea crabbers and four times the rate of all U.S. fishermen, federal statistics show. "We're the deadliest catch," says Mike Banks, the Oregon skipper of the 38-foot Alexa B, which on Saturday joined several hundred crabbers for the opening of the new Dungeness season off Oregon and part of Washington. "We're fishing in the Pacific Ocean, where the storms blow 3,000 miles in from Japan."
These Northwest crabbers take pride in a fishery that still has room for the little guy, who can break into the harvest with far less capital than required to fish the Bering Sea. Most Northwest crab boats range in length from 30 to 80 feet, far smaller than most Bering Sea crab boats, which can reach more than 180 feet.
Both fleets face severe weather this time of year, when the crabs are at their prime. Bering Sea squalls can coat gear and decks with freezing spray, making boats dangerously top-heavy. That's rare on Northwest waters, but the local fleet still gets rocked by storms. Saturday's opening came as forecasters warned of a monster storm capable of spinning out 40-foot seas and hurricane-force winds. Most boats were expected to stay in port.
The Northwest fleet also must navigate treacherous river sandbars to enter and exit ports. Last year, Oregon bars claimed seven commercial crabbers — three in February when the Catherine M capsized trying to cross the Tillamook Bar with a load of Dungeness crab. Then on Dec. 16, the vessel Ash capsized off the mouth of the Rogue River. Four died.
"He was trying to get some income for the holidays and had just crossed the bar," said Cecil Ashdown, widow of 44-year-old skipper, Rob Ashdown. "Then the sneaker waves hit. The first one, they were able to ride out, and the second one flipped them over."
17 deaths in seven years
In the seven-year stretch ending last year, the Dungeness fleet suffered five capsizings that claimed 14 crew members, while three others died in separate incidents. Thirteen deaths happened in Oregon waters, four off the Washington coast.
Northwest crabbers say the fatalities reflect the intense competition, as small and large boats battle to grab as much crab as fast as possible. The danger grows with fatigue, or alcohol and drug abuse. This past January, a young Oregon skipper tested positive for methamphetamine after a disastrous bar crossing that killed one of his crew.
There are also newcomers, with the biggest churn in the larger Oregon fleet, with some 450 permits.
"You get greenhorns who buy boats and get to thinking they are going to make the big bucks," said Gary Wintersteen, a 30-year veteran who crabs off Oregon. "Inexperience kills."
Coast Guard officials say the Northwest fleet includes some poorly maintained vessels, and skippers who scrimp on required emergency drills. They are troubled by the fatalities. "We're looking at a pretty major problem and I don't think we have come to grips with it as an agency," said Cmdr. Chris Woodley, of the Coast Guard's district office in Seattle.
Seasonal safety checks
To try to shrink the death toll, the Coast Guard now conducts dockside safety checks before the season starts. For four days last week, 38 inspectors fanned out to check the fleet. Inspections are not mandatory — 13 skippers refused to let the Coast Guard board. Some 200 agreed.
Inspectors checked life rafts, emergency locator beacons and survival suits.
"It's pretty cool having you guys out here doing this," said Bob Shaw, a 51-year-old skipper from Arch Cape, Ore. Shaw is a veteran of Alaska and Northwest fisheries who recalls two mishaps from his early career that required Coast Guard rescues. He veered off to pursue technology but recently bought the 56-foot Double Eagle and rejoined the crab harvest.
As a Coast Guard inspector waxed the zipper of a survival suit, Chris Burton, a member of Shaw's crew, decided to try one on. A stout man, Burton struggled unsuccessfully to pull on the bulky suit. He tried a second, larger one. It fit — crucial knowledge should he ever have to abandon ship.
After four days, the Coast Guard's list of deficiencies included six vessels with bad survival suits, 11 with expired batteries on emergency locator beacons and at least a half-dozen boats with improperly installed life rafts.
These dockside checks were inspired by a program that began in Alaska in 1999. Those checks have more bite because the crab vessels are required to have stability instructions — developed by a naval architect — that specify a maximum number of pots. The checks were supplemented by vessel inspections that the state of Alaska now requires for participation in the Bering Sea harvests.
Fatalities among Alaska's crabbers have shrunk dramatically. Between 2000 and 2006, 11 crabbers died — compared to more than 45 during the previous seven years. Coast Guard officials note that the downturn began long before 2005, when a new harvest system ended the race for the crab by giving vessels predetermined shares of the catch.
"The biggest single preventive thing we did was start enforcing the stability rules," said Woodley, who helped pioneer the program.
But it's difficult for the Coast Guard to determine the stability of the Northwest fleet. Most of the crab boats are less than 79 feet and thus exempt from having to hire a naval architect to develop stability instructions that guide the loading of pots.
The Coast Guard is considering a rule that would require all vessels 50 feet or longer to have such stability guidelines if they are new or undergo major renovation.
"The whole crux of the issue is to know how much is too much," said Michael Rosecrans, the Coast Guard chief of fishing-vessel safety. "They [crabbers] think they understand that, but they don't always understand."
Concern over restrictions
The Coast Guard is considering other proposals, as well, including one to beef up restrictions when boats attempt to cross the river bars.
All this safety talk makes some crabbers uneasy. They worry about more bureaucracy and rules that they fear will force out more small operators.
"I don't want any more Coast Guard involvement, no way," said Banks, the Oregon skipper.
Banks on Friday carefully planned his strategy for the season opening, with the approaching storm putting fishermen and Coast Guard teams on edge.
A few hours before midnight, he guided his boat over a turbulent Columbia River bar, a run complicated by navigation rules that required him to turn off his deck lights so as not to hamper the vision of oncoming river pilots.
Out at sea, the crabbing was hot. Banks and his three crew pulled in some 15,000 pounds of Dungeness to fill their hold in about eight hours. Then, as the winds picked up, and waves occasionally began to wash across the stern deck, they scurried back to port.
In reality, 'Deadliest Catch' has never been safer
By MIKE LEWIS
P-I REPORTER
As news releases go, this one was standard issue. Exclamation point? Check! Words emphasized in capital letters? CHECK. Superlatives? The most amazing check ever.
The unusual thing about the Discovery Channel's announcement of the upcoming red king crab season and, more important, the filming for the next season of "Deadliest Catch" was the date.
Sept. 25, 2007.
See it? No? Look again. That's right, 2007. From the looks of it, the catch today still is pretty deadly. Indeed, the name says "deadliest" nearly three years after the first episode aired and elevated Seattle and Alaskan crab fishermen to working-class celebrities while it hauled in a payload for the popular cable station.
But as is said, appearances can be deceiving. This is the case for "Deadliest Catch." Ask a crab fisherman. Ask the people who regulate the fisheries or the Coast Guard crews who sometimes rescue crabbers. Ask the fishing families.
Ask Shane Moore. Chances are "Catch" fans don't know Moore -- certainly not as they do TV show regulars Phil, Sig or Eric. The Bothell man no longer fishes. But he still gets paid. That is because he now leases his share of the catch, essentially getting paid to not fish.
Or ask Jord Kuinge, 54, a crab boat captain and one-time owner of the 134-foot Arctic Sea. When the weather is bad, unlike in the not-too-distant past, "we will back off. When we offload, we will stay in town overnight. It's quite a bit different," he said. "We have the option of not taking too many risks."
The reality apart from reality television? The catch has never been safer. In the 1990s, seven crabbers a year died in the Bering Sea. Between 2000 and 2005, nearly four a year did. But since 2005 -- the year "Deadliest Catch" first aired, there have been no deaths.
"That's the funny thing," Kuinge said with a grin. "It's gotten safer while everyone thinks the opposite."
The reason is something called rationalization. Simply put, in a rationalized (think rations) fishery, the shares of the catch are divided and owned before they are caught. For crabs, these shares have been divvied among Alaska tribes, the processors that put the expensive legs on dinner tables and fishermen with a documented history of catching red kings.
The shareholders can buy, sell or lease their shares. Because portions of the catch are guaranteed, the season now lasts for months, not days -- a drastic change from the derby season of four years ago, when crabbers competed over the catch, no matter the danger, no matter the weather.
How has it worked? Great, for some. No so great for others.
As a shareholder, it's worked pretty well for Moore. Although he declined to say the size of his quota or how much he leases it for, here are some ballpark numbers to think about:
When the feds divided up the crab catch, each crabber received a 0.4 percent share of whatever that year's limit is. This year, it's 20 million pounds the crabbers are allowed to catch. So for an average share of 0.4 percent, it comes to 80,000 pounds at, say, $4.50 a pound wholesale. Lease that share to another crabber or a cooperative for roughly 70 percent of its catch value, and the price is $243,600.
A quarter-million dollars to not fish.
Moore, 46, fished for 22 years, nearly all in the cowboy days before rationalization, when 300 boats fished relentlessly until they reached that year's limit. Dangerous weather, injuries and deaths didn't stop the season. And there was no guarantee a crew would catch anything -- except hazardous working conditions.
"It was dangerous and a crapshoot," Moore said. "Not like it is today."
This year, about 70 boats have headed north along with the Deadliest Catchers listed in the news release. Most of them are part of large cooperatives that lease former crabbers' quotas. With a guaranteed share, these boats pull in when the weather turns bad. Crew members get six hours of sleep a night. With all of that, the danger has plummeted like a baited crab pot.
But ratings remain high.
As Kuinge talked, his crew readied the Arctic Sea for departure from Ballard. They'll be up there at least two months, so Peter Vindedal, a deckhand for 20 years, was in a hurry to get home to see his girlfriend before the boat departed.
Vindedal is one of the lucky ones. The downside to rationalization is that it shrank the industry. The 70 boats now operating employ 150 fewer crabbers, according to the industry estimates. (Deckhands said the number is far higher; about 800 to 1,000 fewer jobs.)
"There are fewer jobs," Kuinge agreed, "but the ones that remained are more secure."
So more crabbers than ever are staying home, as one crabber put it, "either on the couch getting paid or waiting for an opening on a boat." The season is safer for those who still work and certainly for those who don't.
That's reality, but maybe not such great television.
" hooked for life "
Excellent choice of words! lol
LOL! He sure did. I bet that kid is hooked for life.
You bet it is. That was amazing on his part.
I liked it when the guys on the Northwestern gave their greenhorn the NW jacket that he wanted so bad!! The kid earned it thats for sure!!
Or how about that Capt. increasing that one deck hands share because he had to work twice as hard because of the slow greenhorn? Now that's smart leadership!
I liked the story of Phil at 17 buying his high school counselors house. LOL!
Yea, that was something! Sitting below deck and waiting for the next dent to happen and to see if it caused a leak. Those guys are unbelievable!
Some pretty decent money being made by each of the crews.
LOLOLOL!!! True.
Oh man the that ice is unreal. Those guys sitting down there in the hull waiting for leaks. That was creepy.
They showed the dude who still hadn't got dressed when he came up to the cabin. Oh man I'd be ticked off to. Alarm goes off and he isn't even dressed. If an alarm on a thin hulled boat surrounded by ice don't wake you up dude you got problems. LOL!
...with the Hansens, Hillstrands, Harrises and even the Hendricks.
Well, it looks like your last name must begin with an H first before you get a chance to be a crab fisherman. lol
This should be great tonight!
SHOW 4: On the Edge
First, the guys will talk about the lineage connected to their career, starting right at the table, with the Hansens, Hillstrands, Harrises and even the Hendricks. Viewers will delight in tales of the glory days of crab fishing, when money flowed as freely as the booze and crab fishermen were the new breed of prospectors. Mike will have them weigh in on how they feel about those noteworthy "chickens" who abandoned ship, and he'll invite a couple of Deadliest Catch's most high-profile women to toss in their perspective as well. The guys will have a little send-up for the "Deadliest Greenhorn," as they bring Kevin Davis to the table, and finally, they'll celebrate some of the most notorious pranks, both at sea and onshore.
Premiere: June 19, 10 p.m. ET/PT
Anyone watch this dude who is out in the wild on his trips?
Man VS Wild? The dude is crazy! LOL!
Sometimes he reminds me of that guy that died.
I think he watched to many of his shows. LOL!
I'm an addict. I watch it anyways. LOL!
Oh man, I'm sorry if I spoiled it for you. I didn't realize you lived out west...my bad.
I saw the shows on lobster fishing too. They have been on before, I think around last fall. It was interesting how similar it was. Everything is just on a smaller scale. It didn't seem like they make out as well money wise as the crabbers. Maybe when it's all said and done they do because I think they have a more spread out season, or seasons where they can fish.
Looking forward to it. On the West Coast here. Yep. I didn't like the way he rode them either. They need to be toughened up but these guys forget when they first started they didn't instantly learn how to do everything either so no need to be that way.
Not sure if I mentioned this but last Sunday they showed lobster fishing. Much better. LOL! Smaller crates. Before the lobster fishing they were shooting when a guy fell off the side losing his grip trying to hold on to those huge heavy crab pots. Into the ice water. He was lucky they got him back.
GREAT show so far, I'm still watching it. Tonights regular episode was a good one too. I'm really glad that Greg, the skipper of the Farwest Leader put that loud mouth Chili in his place!!! I know the guy is a salty dog and has lots of experience but he is always bitching about something and the way he rides the greenhorns is a friggin' disgrace!! I'm surprised that one of the newbies hasn't tuned him up by now.
Tonight!
SHOW 3: Mysteries at Sea
Our captains and deckhands shed light on some of the more peculiar aspects of crab fishing. What are the rituals these guys go through every time they head out? What kind of toughness is expected from a crab fisherman? Viewers will hear the incredible story of the Ghost Ship, the Golden Viking, told by Phil Harris' dad, who was her captain. Spike Walker will return to lend a new angle to the St. Patrick story. The guys will also share their own "close call" stories, where they were barely spared their ships and their lives. Viewers will understand how many of these guys escape TO the Bering sea because of their troubled lives on land, and they'll get a chance to meet the series creator, Thom Beers, who will explain how and why Deadliest Catch came to be. Finally, all the captains will disappear from the room, and the deckhands will take over. At that point, Mike can get the straight scoop on those captains.
Premiere: June 12, 10 p.m. ET/PT
They do rebroadcast them later on the same day at like 11:00 or maybe midnite.
My bet is they do after 1st season of them.
Ive missed those so far, I'm hoping they do a little marathon with all 4 shows one nite
I was trying to determine the length myself. Not sure.
Just read a couple of posts on the board about the show.
I've always wondered myself why they don't span the crab season out a bit more and actually get some rest instead of trying to kill themselves. I assume it has something to do with the fishing being regulated and they'll let only so many approximate pounds of crab being caught. That makes it a race. I know some crabbing seasons are longer than others. How long was the crabbing this season, just two weeks at most, right?
It does look like they can get so many crab depending on the population: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaskan_king_crab_fishing
It's been great. They bring guest on besides regular skippers.
Been some great stories. Really enjoyed it.
Is the "After the Catch" any decent to watch? Didn't realize it was a 4 part deal till the other night. Looked kind of interesting on the most recent promo.
Originunknown. Here is a way to buy the series or separate shows if you are interested.
http://shopping.discovery.com/category-1_SHOPBYSHOW/3_SHOW_SER_DEADLIESTCATCH-27993.html?jzid=405880...
Yep. I think it's the team effort that works up there from what I have seen. Work hard and play hard together.
Did you see the shots of those guys sleeping on the floor to exhausted to get in bed?
And then they had the shot of sig behind the wheel fighting to stay awake. Oh man that is nasty.
That is the part about the crab industry I don't understand. Tack on a few days more to get the catch and give these guys a chance to live before being tired causes more accidents.
I agree. There is a line you cross with a rookie and imo they were crossing it and going to pay the price for it.
When I see this no matter what trade it is I ask the ones riding the rookie hey I suppose you picked it up just like that on your first day right? No matter the response I get back you can tell they think a bit about it and lay off a bit later on.
I saw a few excerpts on YouTube and read a lot about how crab fishing is considered the most dangerous job in the world ... unfortunately I don't have the Discovery Channel ...
great board!!
agree, seems like sig and the boys always have a good time and make a ton of money, also like the two brothers johnathon and andy hillstrandt? they seem pretty laid back to work for.
It was a great show!! I'm watching the replay of After the Catch right now.
Did you catch the part where the skipper said the guys that were riding the greenhorn so hard to make him leave the deck were gonna regret it after about 18 or 20 hours of just the three of them doing all the work!!! They were a little unfair with the guy, I mean they were on his case from the get go.
Great show tonight!
Loved seeing Sig on the deck 20 years later doing deck hand work. Greenhorns sure had a few lessons tonight.
Can you imagine chipping ice for 2 hours or more THEN going to work? I don't know if any of you have used one of those tools but it gets heavy REAL quick.
Great footage shown tonight of those waves. Expecially that 5 story wave that crashed into side of the boat.
Loved the Captain who said he put the clocks ahead 8 hours so they thought they got 12 hours sleep.
Actually if you can trick the body into doing that you can last for some time before you figure out no way you only had 4 hours sleep. LOL!
Thrifty. See if you can find a place to watch it.
Tonight be a great night covering the subjects we talked about. I think you'll really enjoy this one
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=20197433
After The Catch TONIGHT!!!
This should be great show tonight!
The main show will be showing a greenhorn who wants to go home. Had enough.
Good luck on that ship turning around just for you.
Like that one Captain said there is no money to be made in the harbor! LOL!
SHOW 2: Man vs. Nature
The fishermen will swap stories of the worst storms they remember; these are harrowing near-death tales of extraordinary focus at the helm. They will talk about what it's like to face the ice pack and just how terrifying it is to know it could rip their boat and sink it like the Titanic. They'll talk about what it takes to scare a sea captain, namely gigantic rogue waves that come from nowhere. They'll relive the Big Valley tragedy and talk about what might have been done differently. Then, they'll lighten the mood and have some fun with stories of exhaustion, notorious seasickness and crazy antics at sea.
Premiere: June 5, 10 p.m. ET/PT
I'm not sure, I'll just check the tv guide on the nites I'll be able to watch tv and hope for the best.
I also missed it because of work. Are the repeats regularly scheduled ?
I had a game last nite and missed it, gonna have to hope to catch a repeat
Great show last night. Amazing pictures of the guys getting swept off the deck trying to get to the heli to be rescued.
This is the show I'm waiting to see. Should be some great stories!
This four-part special invites the many fans of Deadliest Catch into a fishermen's bar in Seattle, Wash., where they can watch and listen to their favorite captains and deckhands tell the tales from their lives on the Bering Sea. After the Catch allows its viewers to witness these colorful characters together, on land, celebrating their exciting, dangerous and recently popular career. Sitting at the table with our heroic fishermen is Mike Rowe, friend to the crab fleet and host for After the Catch. In addition to showing footage never before seen on television, there will also be several surprise guests, including famous crab fisherman and storyteller Spike Walker, author of Coming Back Alive, Nights of Ice and Working on the Edge.
Don't miss these special episodes, Tuesday nights at 10 p.m. ET/PT, starting May 29.
He didn't tell me about anyone
crying because they couldn't handle it but you are right it does take a different type of person to handle a job like that and he knew it. He needed three additional key men that year. We were in Spain and he was headed to two bars to search out some help. He was contemplating going to Portugal. If he couldn't find any workers in Spain he would go to Portugal. He told me the Portuguese made some of the best sea goers. He had some good help in the past from there. He needed other help too but he would hire them locally where he lived.
He had seasons where not everyone would get sick. There were a couple like you who didn't get ill. Employee turn over was normal for him but that year some of his key workers quit. We talked at length on what makes one person sick and not another. There's no way of knowing. I do believe the first time he was out was when he was 6 years old. I couldn't believe it. It was a one time shot and his dad took him. He didn't get sick. He had two brothers and they didn't go into the business because they got too ill out there. He went out a few more times with his dad when he was really young.
Of course his Mom didn't like it, but it's part of life for them.
It's really a difficult business to be in charge of. The safety of everyone lies on his shoulders. It was crucial that he find the right workers not only because of his livelihood but because it's real easy to die out there. It sounded like a team effort and everyone on that team better be together or he could die. Every year there were boats lost out at sea. People would apply for a job with some of the boats (not his) not realizing that their very lives depended on the make up of the crew. Yes wicked COLD weather out there. Guaranteed where he fished.
Enjoy your marathon today. :) Sounds like fun!
Hi Thrifty! One of the stories posted on here talked about football type of guys ending up bawling their heads off not able to handle it. Definitely a different type of person to handle a job like that.
As far as the puking goes.........
I'll never forget a salmon charter I went on out of Vancouver Island at the Canadian Princess Resort in Ucluelet-Long Beach.
It was August and raining when we left.
We had to go farther out that day then the day before.
Sea's got worse and worse as did the driving rain and temperature started to drop big time.
Captain asked us if we wanted to turn back.
I said no way I paid to fish lets go.
No one said no but I bet they were thinking it by the looks on their faces. LOL!
15 of us on that boat. Wasn't to long before 13 of them fed the fish. This went on for hours while me and another guy fished. There were times from hearing the other guys feed the fish I almost lost it but I hung on that whole trip. It took everything I had to stand up with the wind and boat movement. I wedged myself in the corner of the boat. The charter next to us about 75 yards away we'd see them and then we wouldn't as they went down off the wave. LOL! See the guys in the charter next to us feeding the fish also.
I caught my limit that day. Nothing huge but it was quite an experience I'll never forget. My fingers were so cold I'd go in to warm them up over the hot plate when we moved. You go in the cabin to see the ones who just emptied themselves with their head on the tables looking like they were dead. LOL!
Nope. Missed the puking show but I'm sure it probably has been shown.
BTW. If any of you want to take a charter from where I did I highly recommend these people. I've been there 3 times and water only bad that one day.
Great gear, boats, accommodations, top run resort for fantastic rates.
http://www.canadianprincess.com/
Hi excel LOL
Busy at it I see. lol I was traveling once on train and I met this generational fisherman from (I want to say) Norway. He shared a lot of stories with me about his family and fishing. He was proud to tell me in all the generations his family had fished none of his family had died out there. Commercial fishing was in his blood. Unfortunately it wasn't in all of his crews blood. Very very dangerous and exciting. He was on vacation scouting to find some workers. Every year some of the help would quit on him. He paid good too. Well of course I wanted a job. lol
He didn't want to hire me and it wasn't because I'm small or a women. I'm strong. He told me "Once I get out there I don't go back in for anyone or anything." I didn't understand. He then explained. LOL I bet they don't show this on T.V. or maybe they do?
It's the same thing every season for him. Even though he's fished all of his life he even gets sick some times. The season starts with all the men puking over the boat. This goes on for days and days with some of them. There they are he told me all lined up every single one of them heaving their guts out over the boat. It's so bad they wished they were dead. And he wouldn't turn the boat back for me. LOL hmmm
Puking bad. Wish I was dead because it won't stop sometimes for days? hmmmm
It was getting less and less appealing to me when he shared the throw up stories and he knew it. LOL We shot the breeze for hours on that train.
What he uses now to help combat puking is called palimeeno-no-scope. I don't know how to spell it but you get it from the Dr. He told me never to forget the name of that drug and I haven't.
Do they show them puking on the T.V. show? Ughhh
A skipper and the fisherman he rescued reminisce for Discovery series
By Jack Broom
Seattle Times staff reporter
Two prayers for you to say tonight:
One, that you never have to learn, the way Josh White did, that the Bering Sea can change in a heartbeat — its mood, its behavior, its unforgiving manner.
And two, that if you ever do learn that lesson first-hand, someone like Johnathan Hillstrand is close by to help pluck you out of icy water that can kill a person in minutes.
"If it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here today," said White, whose 31st birthday last November was almost his final day on Earth. If you didn't see White's rescue on Discovery Channel's hit series "Deadliest Catch," no worries: A midocean near-tragedy with action, color, emotion and two manly men hugging isn't the kind of thing TV producers like to keep tucked away in a vault.
Skippers and crewmen from this season's "Deadliest Catch" crab-fishing boats were in Seattle last week to hoist a few cool ones and share salty tales in front of Discovery Channel cameras at the Lockspot Café in Ballard.
"Man overboard!"
Bering Sea rescues, both successful and failed — Hillstrand has been part of both — provide the fodder for much of the first "After the Catch" installment.
"Deadliest Catch" viewers first saw White, an Alaska fisherman for five years, as a small orange speck on the side of a tower of crab pots aboard the 134-foot Trailblazer, 266 miles northeast of Dutch Harbor. The boat's hold was filled with a handsome catch of king crab, and it was time to chain down the pots and head to port.
But within minutes, White said, the wind picked up 15 knots, and five-foot swells became 15-foot rollers, rocking the Trailblazer dramatically side to side.
"I knew I was in a bad spot, and I felt myself slipping," said White. "I tried to get a good grip, but I couldn't. Before I knew it, I was gone."
A few hundred yards away, White's precarious position had caught the attention of the crew of the Time Bandit, including captain Hillstrand of Maple Valley at the helm and his brother and co-skipper Andy, who was shooting video with a camera provided by "Deadliest Catch."
Although the Hillstrands didn't see the moment White fell, they heard their radio crackle with the words every mariner dreads: "Man overboard!"
"It's something you never want to hear, and we hear it too much," said Johnathan Hillstrand, noting that last year's king-crab season had already claimed three lives at that point. "After five minutes, you figure they're not going to make it. And after 10, you know they're gone."
Every second counts
From his boat's position alongside and slightly behind the Trailblazer, Hillstrand knew he could get to the bobbing man faster than White's own boat, which had to completely circle around.
He also knew there was little time to spare: Nine years earlier, his crew pulled aboard the skipper from a vessel that sank in front of their eyes. After only six minutes in the water, the man could not be revived.
Limbs go numb quickly in frigid water. The boots and rain gear that protect a fisherman aboard ship can doom him in the water, pulling him under. Even a man wearing a life vest like White's can swallow a lot of water as waves break over his head.
"I went under three times," White said, before he remembered to pull the cord that inflated his vest.
Fortunately, he avoided what Andy Hillstrand said is a common and fatal mistake: the instinctive reaction to swim toward his own boat as it pulled away. "He saved his energy, so when we threw him a life ring (it took two tries), he was able to grab it and hang on."
About four minutes after he hit the 36-degree water, White was pulled aboard the Time Bandit, but the danger of hypothermia wasn't over until he was out of his wet gear, wrapped in a dry blanket and led to the warm galley, where he collapsed, totally spent.
Johnathan Hillstrand, 44, came down from the pilothouse, his own legs shaking beneath him as he embraced White, whom he'd never met. "Last time that happened," he told White, "we pulled a dead guy out of the water."
Getting back on the boat
Hillstrand, who has fished for 27 years, said rescuing White partly eases the ache he's felt since that earlier incident. In a sense, he said, the impact of the rescue didn't entirely hit him until he saw it on the TV show. Even now, viewing the tape makes him emotional. "You know something like that can happen. You never think it's going to be you."
Perhaps the good deed of saving White bought the Time Bandit some karma: The boat went on to win a bet among skippers for the season's highest average number of crabs per pot.
White, in the aftermath of the near-tragedy, "took a little break, just some time to travel, clear my head and think about what I wanted to do."
He spent three weeks visiting his mother in northern Arizona, where he had a chance to relax, play golf "and put on 10 pounds."
He won't forget his dip in the icy water, or the crew who pulled him out. But he doesn't plan to dwell on it, and can't afford to let the memory paralyze or distract him the next time he's at sea.
And there will be a next time, possibly as early as next week, when he expects to join the crew of another Alaskan boat for salmon-fishing season. He's wiser and more seasoned than last year, but no less enthusiastic about his work.
"There's the freedom, the time off to travel and just the physical work itself — keeping in shape and feeling like you're accomplishing something."
"I'll never quit," he said. "I love it to death."
There ya go! LOL!
I would want $60,000.00/season and all the Crab I could eat for the rest of the year! LOL!
Hi Atout. Thanks for stopping by! Well tomorrow is the 15 hour marathon of the show starting at 9:00 in the morning. Maybe we can get you hooked then? LOL!
Yes, you are right. Both those channels have some good shows.
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Discovery Channel Website link for the show........
http://dsc.discovery.com/fansites/deadliestcatch/about/about.html
New Season, New Perspective
Tune in Tuesdays at 9 pm e/p.
Discovery Channel's Emmy-nominated series Deadliest Catch returns Tuesday, April 3, for a third season of daring adventures on the high seas. Viewers once again voyage to the Bering Sea and follow the brave captains and crew of eight crab-fishing vessels as they struggle against the treacherous weather conditions doing one of the deadliest — and most lucrative — jobs in the world.
This season, which is currently being filmed as boats head out to catch opilio crab, viewers experience life above and below the Alaskan waters. Submersible cameras capture unprecedented underwater images of crabs migrating on the bottom of the Bering Sea and entering the crab pots.
In addition, footage shot from a "chase boat" shows just how diminutive these crab boats actually are in the midst of the Bering Sea. For the first time, viewers see the fishing vessels being tossed around by the high winds and rough seas. The unique angle will also offer a new perspective of the fishermen working the rails, setting and hauling the massive 800-pound crab pots as their boats fight the crashing waves.
This season, viewers will get a more in-depth look at the men who put their lives on the line in search of modern-day buried treasure — Alaskan crab.
Returning to Deadliest Catch this year are the men of the Northwestern, led by Captain Sig Hansen; Captain Phil Harris and his crew of the Cornelia Marie, including sons Jake and greenhorn Josh; Captain Johnathan Hillstrand (king crab season) and Captain Andy Hillstrand (opilio crab season) of the Time Bandit; and greenhorn Captain Blake Painter (king crab season) of the Maverick and his new hand-picked crew, along with Rick Quashnick (opilio crab season) with his wife Donna.
New to Deadliest Catch this season are the men of the Wizard, led by Captain Keith Colburn; Captain Greg Moncrief of the Farwest Leader, who is joined on board by his wife Ragnhild; Captain Allen Oakley of the Early Dawn and his crew, including greenhorn Bryan Mezich; and the crew of the Aleutian Ballad, with Captain Corky Tilley at the helm and son Matthew and daughter Nicole on deck.
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