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!

So I've Got This Friend...

...and he does this job called "crab fishing." Perhaps you've heard of it? He wrote a book. It's full of great pictures and stories detailing his various shenanigans aboard the F/V North American...as seen on Deadliest Catch. Woo! I would highly recommend buying yo'self a copy. Check it out! Deadliest Waters by Travis Arket.

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!

Deadliest Forums

Poster in the Lockspot Cafe in Ballard

For those of you that were members of Deadliest Forums or have an interest in Deadliest Catch, Deadliest Forums (DF) is very sadly gone...however, there is a new site "Deadliest Crabbers" that is now open, but still under heavy construction. Familiar faces are already showing up and hopefully by the start of Season 5 the place will look a little more like "home." Grab your hard hat, check it out, join up, and start posting!

Deadliest Crabbers