CatchCon 2011: Part Two-It's About a Staircase!

 We were being filmed coming into the pier. I'm not sure they've done that before. I honestly don't recall from years past. Most of us were on the bow of the boat, taking pictures, thus ruining what would probably have been a dramatic shot. :)

 

I made him pose for this shot.  I'm awesome at interrupting serious work. Anyway, that's a monkey fist knot and it weighs down the line he's holding so that he can toss it to someone on the pier and drag the big lines through to tie up the boat. Hooray for not drifting! 

After we were secure, the NW slipped in beside us, being driven by none other than...

Edgar Hansen! Jake Anderson was of course, there to help out as well.

Edgar's not fond of taking direction from others when it comes to tying up the boat!

  Matt Bradley was around for the ride too! Good to see him back on the deck, even if he doesn't look happy to be there. (Oh, and Ryan, if you happen to read this, show up next time, k? How else can we get fake married and freak out our loved ones?)

 Here, Jake and Matt are setting buoys between the two boats along with Danny Maki! Danny is one of the new crewmen on the Wizard and a super guy! It was great to get to meet him, and I'm looking forward to the next time I see him. 

I also managed to snag a shot of the elusive Norman Hansen. I once spent an evening just talking to Norm about all kinds of stuff. He's actually a very nice guy with a great personality, just kind of quiet. I'm sure he doesn't remember me in the slightest. 

Monte and Keith directing the action on deck!

One of the camera guys was filming everything. I tried to stay out of his way.  I probably failed.

 Here you can see Soper running the crane... FROM BEHIND HIS BACK, just like he does during the season, so that he can keep his eyes on the deck. Great skills... he has them.

 At one point, the crane actually sprung a leak, and here's Lenny, well, his hands at least, taking care of it!

The sorting table has to be moved out of the way so that people can walk on the deck during the tours... outside of bagging bait, it's times like this when it's handy to have greenhorns.

I know this isn't the most interesting shot ever, but I like it, a lot. The crane was swinging over my head, and I managed to snag a shot as it buzzed past. I figure this is a "crab's eye view." 

After moving the table, it was time to bring the gangway down onto the deck so that people could travel onto the boats. That giant metal staircase is weird. The stairs aren't deep, and they're too long, but not quite long enough that you want to take two at a time, so you end up just kind of shuffling down it while the boat is rocking, praying you don't take a header down the sucker. It's like the stairway to heaven... by which I mean, it's surprising nobody had died on the thing yet. Deadliest Catch, deadliest staircase.  "On a staaaaaaircase I ride..."

Yeah, I'm ending this one here... with a staircase... because I'm lame awesome like that. Next up, the Mariners disappoint Lynn Guitard, and CatchCon 2011!

CatchCon 2011: Part One- Sailing, Sailing!

 CatchCon!

Well, I'm finally posting about Seattle where another round of Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch convention, CatchCon took place. Like the previous CatchCons, it was full overrun with fans and fishermen alike! Of course, my experience is usually a bit deviated from the norm at these events, and this year was no exception.

The flight into Seattle was the standard cross country adventure, nothing to write home about... or blog about for that matter. The ride home however was a terror-filled, white-knuckled panic fest, but I'm getting ahead of myself. After landing, I met up with my fabulous friend, the wonderful Cindi, since she was landing only a half-hour after I did. Together, we grabbed our bags, headed outside and met up with our friend Lynn and two of his friends Brianna and Danielle, who were good enough to come pick us up from the airport. Lynn and Cindi are pretty much bff, and he's just a great guy all around.

 Me, Brianna, Cindi, Keith, Danielle, and Lynn at The Market Arms... good times!

We ended up in Ballard at a little establishment called the Market Arms, just outside of PacFish, where we met up with Keith, Monte, Lenny, Gary, and a few of other people. It was a fun night of swapping stories, playing a few darts, and  making new friends and catching up with old ones. However, it was getting late, heading towards the 2 A.M. mark, and we all had an early morning coming at us hard, so we turned it in for the night. The morning would bring us back to PacFish for our annual visit to the F/V Wizard!

Once the lines were untied, we started off pretty quickly. Unfortunately, Monte and the new greenhorn Danny were still standing on the deck of the Pinnacle! However, Keith maneuvered the boat close enough for them to hop aboard, no man left behind on the Wizard!

 Lynn! He's becoming a seasoned vet of the CatchCon shindiggery now.

 Craig Terrill was kind enough to pose for a pic with Jackie and me.

We had a huge crowd on the Wizard this year for the morning crossing. Craig Terrill from the Seattle Seahawks, several people from Discovery Channel, friends and family of the crew, Peter Moran from Rezin Marketing, who does a great job for the Wizard, and then there was us! It was a gorgeous morning for a boat ride.

Norwegians!

 Of course, the F/V Northwestern was gearing up for the ride over as well... 

...Complete with camera crew!

Captain Sig Hansen. Sig wasn't on the boat by the time we arrived at the Locks. I'm not sure if he hopped aboard or drove over to the pier actually. All I know is that he showed up at some point after the boats docked.

We make this same face and take this same picture at every single event we attend together. We're awesome. 

 Here's a shot of a lot of the folks with us for the day on the bow of the boat. Discovery, business partners, deckhands, and a Seahawk or two are all enjoying the ride. Still, I think Jax and I had the best seats in the house.

Riding high! Jackie and I get a great view from the top of the F/V Wizard's Wheelhouse.

We had a stowaway or two make their way to the deck as well! It seemed a few ravens wanted to take the ride from the terminal to the pier! 

Beautiful!

I thought this was a nice shot of Gary Soper. Soper's a cool guy, quiet, but with a great sense of humor. It's always nice to get to see him when I'm around for one of the functions. You'll probably recognize him from the cover of Season 6's DVD box! 

I always love sailing in and seeing the city appear in the distance. The grey, cloud-filled sky just screams "Seattle!"

And, what ride into Seattle would be complete without a picture of the Space Needle?

As we were sailing in, a Coast Guard chopper seemed to appear out of nowhere and fly directly over the boat! I've only seen them two other times, once at a previous CatchCon during a rescue demonstration, and again in Panama City, FL after a very tragic double red flag day when they were out searching for several bodies. The memories are chilling, one for what could happen, the other, for what did.

Thank you, US Coast Guard, for all you do!

 There it is, The Bell Harbor Conference Center, and the pier I've come to know so well. The next day will be a long one...

And, as always, I'm loving every minute of it! Next up, docking the boat, "hey, look, it's Edgar," and other shenanigans.

Seattle, CatchCon, and All Kinds of Shenanigans..How Appropriate! Part 4

Michelle, Sally, Me, Carrie, Lynn, Mystic, Lenny, and Rebecca on deck.

Saturday was CatchCon. I didn't really know what to expect...but I didn't really care, all I was looking for was good times with friends. Anything else was just a bonus.

The Northwestern and Wizard stayed where we left them.

Me and Mike Fourtner...who, hilariously, was like "Oh, I know your group! I keep up with things!"

Bettina sporting her "Dutch Harbor Gear" hat that she won in a verizon texting contest. She had the fastest thumbs in the west that day. (I too scored a hat, though my means were more like "can I have a hat?")

(Sorry for the craptastic quality of this picture.) Velvet brought her own hat. Thanks to it, she ended up on a lot of Discovery videos. lol!


Apparently, at some point, I was on the Northwestern...also apparently, at some point, I became a giant. The guys were nice...Matt shot me with a marshmallow gun that Anne had given him...little did he know, there was more than one gun. hehehe.

Becks, Carrie, Sally, Myself, and Michelle showing the NW our best sides.
I've always liked that painting in the galley...and you can see on the table, there, the marshmallow gun in question (which I shall refer to as 'the revenge-er' lol!). The bag? Well, that's full of ammo...delicious, delicious ammo.

Mystic and Lynn showing off in red...Wizard red!

Travis...he likes to talk...a lot. LOL! Good thing he's fun to listen to. Seriously, he was great at working the deck, telling all about various Bering Sea shenanigans, and what have you.

*Translation*: "Hey you hillbillies, be careful on the boats, OK? If you catch your toe and break your fool neck, don't come to sue us!"Carrie, Russ, and myself. It was nice to finally meet him.


There were various games going on...this one was obviously, "crab sort." Had I known the winner received and XBox, I would have tried a little harder!


Jeff Conroy about to introduce the Captains for the synposium .


Andy, John , and Phil listening to Jeff.


Phil and Sig during the question and answer portion.


Keith and Andy chattin' it up .At some point, Lynn, saw either my or Bettina's hat. With childlike wonder he exclaimed "I...I want a hat!" Mystic, having adopted him (see earlier post) took the boy to the texting table where he was given his coveted hat! In Mystic's words "You're on the show baby, I think we can get you a hat." -best.

Next post, there were some survival suit drills and an awesome coast guard demo that I can't wait to share!