And they are off...well part of the boat crew anyway!

Many people ask what we do in the summer time with our boats. So beginning this week, I'm going to blog once a week on what's happening in the summertime with the Brenna A and our other boat, the Jennifer A. There will be times when I blog about stuff unrelated to the boats, ALS, and if you end up in Ketchikan, a really great restaurant to eat at!

This first summertime post will be short and sweet, but I'll write more later!

Some of you may know what salmon tendering is, some of you may not. Basically in the summer time, our boats are big FedEx trucks! They travel out to the salmon fishing grounds and unload salmon from the fishing boats and load them into our crab tanks. There we keep the cold with our onboard refrigeration system, and deliver them to the processing plants in town. That way the fishermen don't lose fishing time having to run into town to offload their salmon.

The Brenna A begins her tendering season up in Bristol Bay, taking fish to the AGS (Alaska General Seafoods) plant in Naknek. The Brenna hold about 375,000 of salmon. Sean runs the boat for the salmon season as well. This year we have five crew which include Sean, Zack (engineer), Bri, (Sean's girlfriend) Jen, (Bri's friend) and Luke (Sean's cousin) as deckhands. After Bristol Bay gets done, the boat and crew head to Ketchikan for the rest of the salmon season. 

The crew of the Brenna A is flying into Dutch this week and will then run the Brenna A up to Naknek. The Brenna A is tied up in Dutch after Opies, and stays there for the spring. The crab gear was removed and salmon tender gear was set up before everyone left Dutch in March. Sean and crew will make final preparations...fresh food, fuel, checking for parts and chaining down the tendering gear. They will head to Naknek this weekend and the Bristol Bay summer fun begins!

The Jennifer A is down is Seattle and final preparations are underway to get her out of town on Wednesday, June 14th. Tomorrow is the Costco food run. Getting fuel will be next week as well as getting fresh food for the trip up to Ketchikan. The Jennifer A spends her summer tendering in and out of Ketchikan, also for AGS. She holds about 300,000 pounds of salmon.

The Jen is captained by Kjell (he also runs the boat for crab season.) The rest of the crew are Craig (engineer) and deckhands Jordan, Henry and Brenna (yes, the Brenna A namesake will be working on the Jennifer A this summer!) All the crew is based out of Seattle so they have been heading down to Fisherman's Terminal everyday, getting things checked off the list.

It will take the Jennifer A about 3 days to travel to Ketchikan, from Seattle. Once they pull into town they will have a day or two to get everything organized and then head out of Ketchikan and travel to the fishing grounds. 

I'll post pictures and videos as the summer goes on, and as always, here is to calm seas and following winds. 

Thanks for following along,
​Jenny

It's been over a year since we and I mean by we, Sean and the FV Brenna A, made our television debut on the Emmy award winning tv show Deadliest Catch as featured on the Discovery Channel.

Since that time, I can say we had an excellent crab seasons on the FV Brenna A and on the FV Jennifer A. 

And, since that time, I can say I was the world's worst blogger! I had high high hopes of blogging more often about Sean's first year on the Deadliest Catch, but I was just insanely busy.

We were not planning on having the Brenna A begin crabbing when it did. We had an amazing opportunity present itself when one of the producers for Deadliest Catch called my home phone and said they would like to talk to us about Sean and the FV Brenna A being on the show. We met with them, did a bit of negotiating and then started filming in Sept of 2015, as we got ready for the 2016 crab season. 

Sean, the crew, and the FV Brenna A left to go fish Bairdi crab. During that time, they faced three different hurricanes, and a few other interesting things. But, Sean's first season fishing on the Brenna A was a success. He caught over 500,000 lbs of Bairdi crab, the boat and crew tied up in Dutch at season's end and everyone returned home. 2016 Bairdi season was a wrap!

That season came and went, and I didn't blog. I was swamped with the business end of having two boats fishing crab for the first time in our business history! 

Suddenly, it was crab season 2017.

Suddenly I was swamped again and writing to a back burner to everything else. While the boat is out fishing and Sean manages that end of it...fishing crab, managing crew, dealing with weather, his mother calling him all the time, and filming for Deadliest Catch. I am at home, in our home office trying to keep up on the paperwork end of everything, while Brenna, manages the social media part of the equation.

I can not even put into words the amazing reception we received as our ALS story was told on Season 12 of the Deadliest Catch.

We have been overwhelmed, and overjoyed. We received so many emails and FB messages from other families living with ALS. It was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. When you are living with ALS in your life, days are just hard. It can also be very isolating at times. Anytime you hear the letters ALS uttered outside of the ALS community, it brings such hope. You feel like, "ohmigosh, someone knows about ALS, I'm not alone." 

I remember receiving an email from a family where the husband had to recently quit his job due to his ALS. His wife reached out to me, asking how did I handle it when Pat had to stop working, physically stop working on the boats, because of his ALS. We corresponded and I think I was able to help. It's connections like that, made because ALS was part of a story line on Deadliest Catch that offered hope to many families that they aren't alone, and someone really gets what it's like to live with ALS in your life...and then, when it's gone from your life.

For those of you who don't know our story it is one about ALS (the disease ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease), resilience, and hard work. 

The very short version of the story is as follows below. For a the more complete story please read the blog from last year. 

My husband Pat was diagnosed with ALS in June of 2005. Sean was 13 and Brenna was 15. In June of 2013, Pat decided he was done living with ALS and passed away on June 4th, 2013. Six months after he was diagnosed with ALS, he bought our company's second boat, and re-named it the Brenna A, after our daughter. Pat always wanted the boat to go crabbing, and we had our own plan for making that happen. But then, Deadliest Catch offered us an opportunity and with the generosity of Sig Hansen and Keith Coburn, we were able to make Pat's dream of the Brenna A going crabbing happen earlier than we anticipated. However, it was a ton of work, as is anything good, and it was pretty insane getting everything ready! 

Because of our participation with Deadliest Catch and Discovery Channel, we have had some really amazing experiences and some great great people step up and help us raise funds and awareness for ALS research at ALS TDI.

In future blog posts I'll keep you updated on those unique and creative ways we are able to support ALS research. It really is overwhelming. For as hideous as the disease ALS is, the kindness we have been shown because of it, really truly is incredible. 

We can't thanks everyone at Discovery Channel and Deadliest Catch enough. We hope you were able to tune in to the show last year, and see our story unfold. Again, we are so thankful for this opportunity to have a world wide platform to raise awareness for ALS. Pat was a really really great guy and ALS is truly horrible. We hope to be able to help find a treatment for the disease by our continued involvement with ALS TDI, Discovery channel, and Deadliest Catch.

I've posted some pictures from the past year, and a Discovery Channel video as well.

Next blog post I'll be talking about beer, a restaurant, Brenna A gear,  the boats, life, ALS and what ever else strikes me!

This season, season 12 + 1, has finished filming and the Season Premier is April 11th. We hope you watch!

​Overall, the season for us was good. But as always the unexpected can happen. Our fishing community suffered a tremendous loss when the FV Destination was lost with all 6 crew members on board. We continue to send out thoughts and prayers to the owners of the vessel and the families of all the crew.

Thanks for reading and thanks for your support,
Jenny

Help us #endals at ALS TDI

It's always hard for me to write the first blog of the year. Hard because I never really know where to begin, and hard because as I write, I'm always reminded of the night we, Pat, Sean, Brenna and I decided, #1 that Sean was actually going to go crab fishing, against every bone in my body, and every argument I threw at him, and #2 to make it all better in my mind, I would sit down and blog about it. Sean came up with "Crabby Mama" because that night I was a tad crabby about it all. But then we all started laughing and talking about silly things I could write about, and it has become a great memory for us all.

I'm sitting here kinda laughing to myself as I type that! Like writing a blog is going to make me feel any better about one of my children out in the middle of the Bering Sea! Writing helps me process so, in a way it did/does help, however, the bottom line is I'm still writing because my son is STILL fishing in the Bering Sea!

You may notice that I'm writing earlier in the year. Usually I start when Sean leaves on the Jennifer A, as engineer and deckhand, for the Opilio season. This year, it's a whole different game, and Crabby Mama is trying not to go crazy.

Recently, we decided to get the Brenna A ready for the Bairdi (Tanner) crab season. We had an opportunity come up and we decided to run with it. The past weeks were spent getting the Brenna re-outfitted to fish crab again.

A little back history on the Brenna A. If you've followed the blog, or if you are new to my blog, and have read through past posts, you know that my handsome husband Pat was diagnosed with ALS in June of 2005. (Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge, yes, that was for ALS. ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.) Pat passed away from his ALS in June of 2013, after living the heck out of life for 8 years.

He loved life. Loved everything about it...he made friends with everyone he met, he loved negotiating deals, he loved working hard, reading a good book, and mostly he loved his family...me, and his beautiful, handsome children. He loved us more than he could ever put into words...but his actions spoke volumes. He had a huge extended family and a group of friends that he loved as well...he loved trying to boss everyone around...with a smile that made his blue eyes twinkle...most of the time...unless he knew his way was better, which it usually was...but don't tell him I said so!

After Pat and I could finally talk to each other about what this ALS diagnosis meant (most people live 2-5 years after diagnosis,) we started tossing around some ideas about how we were going to live these next few years. I was thinking beach, sand, warm ocean, sunshine, umbrella drinks. Pat he was thinking, "Hey, let's buy another boat! I've always wanted to have two boats and we can get it set up to fish crab at some point, and have two boats fishing crab." Clearly, our future plans were not in sync, and we went with the boat idea. 

We purchased the vessel Shishaldin in November of 2005, five months after Pat was diagnosed with his ALS. He promptly renamed the boat the Brenna A, after his beautiful beautiful daughter. When Brenna was born, we had a list of five girls names to pick from. We figured we would look at our little girl and find the right name. I had kind of a long delivery and once I had our little girl snug in my arms, I was exhausted and only wanted to gaze at our little miracle baby. I told Pat to pick a name from the list. He chose Brenna Adele. I know he was thrilled to name our second boat after his baby girl.

The fact that Pat bought a second boat five months after he was diagnosed with ALS is really a testament to how he lived with his ALS. He was determined and driven on many levels. He had tenacity and really really loved what he was doing in life. ALS came along and slowed him down, a tiny bit. He blasted through his disease as best he could, and while he did that, he rebuilt many systems in the Brenna A, the Jennifer A, and kept the boats running, even from his wheelchair. His goal was always to have the Brenna A fish crab. He just ran out of time to help make that happen...this is where i insert a  bad word and say,       "..... you ALS."

Fast forward to the opportunity and decision to go fish Bairdi crab, with the Brenna A, in the Bering Sea. Oh, and I think I forgot to mention, Sean is going to be the skipper!

​Yes, our 23 year old son, who followed his father around from the day he could walk, is now running the boat that his father named after his daughter...in the middle of the Bering Sea...in the middle of the Alaska winter! Crabby Mama is tad nervous as Sean is now the skipper...we have five crew members, lots of pots, and well, there is always the weather that is in the back of my crazy mind...but he's ready and very excited about this job and adventure. 

Life was consumed by and filled with busy days, some long nights, and always laughter. Since the boat hadn't fished crab since we owned it, Sean and his crew were busy getting lines, buoys, pots all geared up. A wave wall was installed so water coming over the bow, won't get the crew too wet. The coiler and bait chopper were re-installed and hydraulic lines were run. The pot launcher was set back in is proper place and more hydraulic lines were run.

Food was ordered. Costco, Fred Meyer and Cash and Carry runs were made. And then there was the meat order...91 boxes of just about every cut, sandwich meat, poultry, breakfast meat you can imagine. Planning for a boatful of people, for four months, 2 meals a day, and goodies...well, it was actually fun for me. It's what I used to do all the time. I was reminded how much I loved working on the boat, making cookies, keeping hungry, hard working guys/girls fed, being a part of that craziness that comes when you are trying to get out of town, the sound of the generators, the smell of diesel...the happy memories of days gone by with Pat, but also remembering this is what he wanted us to do. But, 91 boxes of meat...I admit, that was a tad bit overwhelming!

On a beautiful sunny Seattle day, the Brenna A sailed away from the docks in Ballard, and headed up to Dutch Harbor. They had calm winds and following seas crossing the Gulf of Alaska. Once they hit the docks in Dutch, they had lots and lots of pot work to do. Each pot needed lines, buoys, and bait jars. The weather in the Bering Sea was pretty bad, so they had plenty of time to get all the pots ready.

After a hurricane blew in and out of Dutch, they took off with a full load of pots, headed for the crab grounds. I was back in Boston for my annual ALS.net Leadership Summit and Gala, but I got to talk to Sean as he went past Priest Rock as he left for his first trip, skippering the Brenna A for the first time, as she heads out crabbing. It was pretty overwhelming on many many levels. I know Pat's probably sitting up in the wheelhouse with him, enjoying the ride...and probably trying to boss him around, with his blue eyes twinkling...or not!

Yesterday, they were back in Dutch to pick up their second load of pots. Today, they headed back out to the grounds, and hopefully they will start checking the first load soon. Hopefully there will be lots of Bairdi in them, and Sean and the crew will be happy crabbers...and Crabby Mama will be a little less crabby!

I'm really really really going to be much better this year, keeping up on the blog. In January, the Jennifer A will be out fishing Opies, so at that point, both boats will be crabbing. That is Pat's dream....we will keep working to make it happen. And, for the record, I'm still holding out for the sunny beach, warm ocean, umbrella drink scenario...! 

Thanks for reading. Below are a few pictures of the boys, girls, and Koda the puppy dog working way to get the Brenna ready while she was docked at Fisherman's terminal in Ballard.

I have to be totally honest here.  I sat down last night to write this first blog of 2015, and I couldn't do it.  Before I logged on to the website, I told myself, "just sign on, and start writing. Do not start going through previous blogs. Do not look at any pictures of Pat. Do not, do not, do not."  So, I signed on.  Even before I could look at anything, I burst out in tears.  Then of course I started going through previous blogs, and staring staring staring at the pictures of Pat.  That was coupled with the vivid memories of the night I decided to do the blog, yep, a crying puddle of goo. That night was such a great conversation with Pat and the kids. We sat around trying to come up with a name, talked about all the silly things I could write about, and laughed about different family times we had had on the boat as the kids were growing up. I shut the blog down, finished up my crying, and decided to drown my sorrows in the left over Christmas cookies. I really had great intentions of writing last night.  I had had a great day, the first part of the night was great, and I was settled in my favorite chair ready to write.  But. Well. Life does not go as planned, this I know.  Instead, I read, wrote a few lines in another piece I'm working on, and went to bed.  Tonight, a few tears popped into my eyes, and it feels good to be writing.

For those of you who don't know, or haven't read the past blogs, Pat passed away on June 4th, 2013. He was diagnosed with ALS (remember the Ice Bucket Challenge? Yes that ALS,) in 2005 and lived with the stupid disease for 8 years. He handled his ALS way better than I did.  He knew what he would live with and what he wouldn't live with.  When he decided he was done, that was it.  The will of the human spirit to live, or die, is an absolutely amazing thing.  To watch it in action is amazing, the living part, and heartbreaking, the dying part. But Pat's courageous choice of deciding he was done living with ALS, was the biggest gift of love in action I have ever witnessed. He was a good, great man, who loved life and squeezed in as much living as he could in his 52 years of life.

 

So. Back to crab! 

In November, the crab crew of the Jennifer A ran the boat from Seattle to Dutch Harbor, Alaska.  It's a trip that takes 10 days, crossing the Gulf of Alaska.  The weather can be bad, but this crossing was "ok" according to Sean.  I have learned to never ask what "ok" means.  Once they arrived in Dutch Harbor, the guys spent a little over a week getting all the crab pots geared and ready.  These crab pots are 7 feet, by 7 feet.  Big ole pots to hopefully hold lots of crab.  Once all the pots were geared, they were stacked on the deck of the Jen.  The crew flew out of Dutch in time for Thanksgiving, with the boat already to fish crab. 

Everyone had the month of December off, well until the 26th, when they flew back up to Dutch Harbor and headed out to go crabbing.  As I type I am tracking the boat on our AIS tracking system.  I can log on anytime, and see exactly where the JenA is, and if they are fishing, moving pots, or running in to offload.  Right now, it looks like they are fishing.  They have an offload appointment for tomorrow, the 4th, or Monday the 5th, depending on when they arrive in to St. Paul Island, to offload.

I talked with our skipper, Kjell, yesterday. We have a satellite phone here at the house, so I can call and talk to the boat at anytime.  Plus, the boat can call me at anytime as well.  Since the sat. phone is downstairs in our office, I have a baby monitoring system set up so I can hear the boat from any room, if they should happen to call.  Don't tell these big tough crab guys they are being kept tabs on by a baby monitoring system...!

Kjell said all was going well, the weather was "ok" (again, I don't ask,) and the greenhorns were working out just great.  We have a crew of six on board this year.  Kjell in the wheelhouse, and Jose, Craig, Sean, Tirie, and Bo.  Tirie and Bo are the greenhorns this season.  Greenhorns to crabbing that is, they both have had years of experience on boats in Alaska.  

That's about all I have to report for now.  I will be talking to Sean when they get to Saint Paul to offload. So I will have more to report on then.  I'm attaching a few pictures from past years. 

I'll be posting another update after I talk to Sean.  I asked him to try and take some pictures as well.  But as he reminded me, "Mom, I'm there to work, not take pictures."  If I don't get any pictures from him, that's fine with me.  It means he and the crew are busy working and being safe.  I'm ok with that!

Thanks for reading.  If you are new to the blog, start from the very beginning of all the previous posts, and then you will be caught up.  If you have any questions, ask away.  Until then, here is Crabby Mama wishing for safe fishing to all.

Crabby Mama + late night call from Sean, from Dutch Harbor = Happy Mama.

The Jennifer A just finished up with their third trip, and are tied safely at the dock in Dutch Harbor.  The unloading of the crab began early this morning.  Everyone is working pretty hard to get unloaded, soooo, they can all go watch the Seahawks game.  Glad they have their priorities straight!

This trip, was definitely a Bering Sea winter crab trip.  (Lisa, if you are reading this, PLEASE skip down to the next paragraph.)  There was wind, (up to 50 mph) there was serious wave action (seas and waves building up to 12 feet) and there was rain.  The good news was, the wind was warmish, so there was no freezing spray…no ice building up on the boat!  The weather was going to start building and become even nastier, so while the JenA did not have a full load of crab, Kjell, our skipper made the call to head to Dutch.  Sean said it was a good move, because as they were heading to Dutch, the weather did come up.  On the way in, the wind was blowing and the seas were building, they ended up in "the ditch" pretty much the whole ride in.  What's "the ditch" you ask?  Well, it's kind of like sitting in a ditch, with the waves, the big waves, slapping up against you on each side, making the ride very rocky and rolly.  Bleck!

The crabbing is going pretty fast, for us.  We have 2 trips left, and we will have filled our quota.  I think I've mentioned this before, but every year we are issued crab quota that tells us how many pounds of crab we can catch.  This amount is determined by the overall crab quota…our quota is a certain percentage of the overall quota.  This season, we are fishing our quota, and fishing the quotas that were issued to 3 other quota holders. Sometimes, we will trade our king crab quota, for opilio quota.  Meaning, we let some one else fish our king crab, and in return we get to fish their opilio quota.  This trading is called leasing.  There are rates negotiated for leasing, as determined by the the two negotiating the lease, and staying within industry standards.  For instance, a lease rate of 50-50 means 50% of the money from the delivery goes to the owner of the quota, and the other 50% goes to the boat fishing the quota.  

Why wouldn't you just always fish your own quota?  Because some times, based on the quota you are issued, it's not cost efficient to fish your quota.  The cost of gearing up, and actually fishing, are more than you will make fishing your quota.  So, you trade around.  It works out well.  Ok, enough of that…it makes me feel like I should go start crunching numbers on the calculator!  

Pat LOVED all the negotiating and wheeling and dealing that went with talking to people about leasing their quota, or for them to lease ours.  I can totally picture him still, in his walking days, talking on his cell phone, with his ear piece in, pacing around the kitchen, hands in his jean pockets, with a half smile on his face, and every once in a while raise his eyebrows at me…with either a big smile, or an eye roll!  I knew things were going good when he walked out to the living room, and sat down on the couch to make the deal.  It was the same thing in his wheelchair days.  He would drive around, back and forth between the living room and kitchen…chatting away, smile or an eye roll, and when then closing the deal in the living room, looking out the window, that faced the Cascade mountains.  On the nice sunny days, those wheelchair deals were made driving around the deck, chatting away, doing what he loved…not letting his ALS slow him down or define him.

Speaking of ALS, in October I was honored to be asked to serve on the Board of Directors for ALS Therapy Development Institute. (ALS TDI)  In the last weeks of Pat's life, I told him that I was going to keep doing my ALS Advocacy, and he blinked yes in agreement.  I am thrilled to be a part of ALS TDI's innovative approach to finding a treatment for ALS, by being able to serve on their board.  Pat's legacy will not be dying from ALS, but instead, inspiring me to keep working to find a treatment…that will be his legacy.  

I am really excited to be part of a new program at ALS TDI, and I know it's something Pat would have totally supported.  ALS TDI is developing ALS stem cell lines, made from the skin cells of those people who are actually living with ALS.  The hope is that once these lines are developed, the scientists will be able to test drugs on these stem cells, and see how the disease reacts.  This is much more cost efficient way to test drugs.  Plus, by finding similarities in different ALS stem cells, it will help to speed the process up.  If there is one thing ALS needs, is speed…speed in finding a treatment.

If you are interested in learning more, you can click here: IPS
(And warning, the freeze frame of me is not so flattering…but the video was produced well!)  Thanks for looking.

I've added some more pictures of the JenA crew unloading crab.  It's from last year, but the process is the same!  Sean was going to try and get new pictures today!  Thanks for reading…and Go Seahawks!

First post to the Crabby Mama blog in a very very long time!

I started this blog last year, as Sean went off to his fish his first crab season in the Bering Sea.  I had really really good intentions of staying up to date with last year's crab season, but things got a little crazy last winter and spring, here at home.  As many of you know, Pat was diagnosed with ALS in June of 2005.  Last winter, as crab season geared up, so did Pat's ALS.  He needed full time care, as the disease left him unable to do anything for himself.  I became very busy trying to take care of him, and Crabby Mama blog, went dark.  

Last winter and spring, Pat maintained his spirits, but his body was failing.  ALS is the cruelest of diseases.  This past June, June 4th of 2013, Pat decided he was done with his ALS, and sailed away, up to the heavens, on a beautiful sunny Seattle afternoon.  The kids and I were with him as were other family members, and a few close friend.  Pat lived his ALS life on his terms, and dictated his end, just the way he wanted. There aren't enough words to describe how amazing Pat was, and still is.  He lived with ALS in a such a gracious, loving, humorous, kind way.  Even in his last few weeks on earth, he was still running St. George Marine, making sure he had all his plans in place, so we could continue to operate.  His gift of life blessed many on this earth.  While void left behind is huge, I know he is in a place of love, and guiding us as we continue to own and operate St. George Marine in Pat's honor.

The 2014 Opilio Crab season started on Decemeber 27th, when the crew of the Jennifer A flew into Dutch Harbor Alaska.  The boat left the docks on the 29th, and early early on the 30th, they started setting pots in the Bering Sea.  The first trip was bountiful and mostly full of calm seas…mostly.  On the 3rd of January, the Jennifer A pulled into St. Paul Island to offload all of it's little crabbies.  (The Alaska crab fishery is one of the most managed fisheries in the US.  It is managed to be sustainable for years to come.)

After about a 10 hour unloading time, the crew had dinner up in the mess hall with the processing crew, rested, and then headed back out to start fishing.   Tonight I received a call from Sean, saying they were back in St. Paul with another full load of crab!  Fishing is good, and the weather is too.  Crabby Mama likes to hear that!

They won't be able to start unloading until the 10th, so tomorrow, rest day.  When the boat is fishing crab, they are running gear, and setting pots 20 hours a day.  It's a grind, so having tomorrow to rest, his huge.  Crabby Mama likes that too!

I will really try to stay up to date on this blog this year!  The boat will be fishing crab until late February to early March.  

Please feel to read the posts from last year, they go into a little bit of depth as to what crab fishing is all about, for St. George Marine.

On a side note, I can't even begin to thank everyone for all their support last year.  It was completely unbelievable and there are days that I am still stunned that Pat is not here.  I just really want to say thank you to all of you.  Your presence in our lives, has helped to ease our pain and grief.

Here's to full crab pots, smooth seas, and calm seas, to all those fishing.  I know Pat is keeping a watchful eye on all.

Ok, my bad....I should have posted the first part of this update last week, but where the heck does the time go?!

Last Friday, Brenna and I were out doing a little retail therapy, and my cell phone rings.  The name showing, "F/V Brenna A!"
It was Sean calling from the beautiful Priblof Island of St. Paul!  The connection was a clear as a bell,  and Sean says, "Hi Mom, we are in offloading."  It was great to talk to him.  They had survived their first week of setting the crab pots, checking  them, emptying them, and throwing those lovely little dollar bills, oops, I mean Opilio crab, in the the fish tanks. He was kind of sore, lots of muscles being used heaving everything around, but it was a good kind of pain!

I asked him how everything going, especially the weather.  He said everything was going great, and that the weather had been "fine."  I said, "What do you mean by fine?"  He replied back, "Well, it's been great.  We've had really calm seas, no rain, no snow, and in fact, the Bering Sea has been as flat and glassy as a pond, the sun has even been out."  I paused, and said, "ok, I can handle it, really how has it been?"  Again he said, "flat and glassy calm Mom"  I wanted to jump up and down and scream "Yippee!" but being in a crowded shoe section at Macy's I though better of it so as not to embarrass my daughter.
So, Sean's first week crab fishing in the Bering Sea in the middle of winter, was great.  So Crabby Mama was Happy Mama!

I asked him about life on the boat and how it was going as far a being the new guy on the crab deck.  He said everything was great.  He's learning lots and the crew was getting their rhythm and pace set.  He said the one thing that they do on the Jennifer A, is rotate the different positions on the deck, so no one person is doing the say job over and over.  I think that's pretty cool and actually pretty smart...that way, if someone needs a break, and can't be out on deck, anyone can step into that position.  Plus, it helps cut down on some of the repetitiveness, which can help cut down on injuries.  Again, Happy Mama!

They get up every day around 5am, have breakfast and then are out on the deck by 5:30am.  He said they fish until about 11pm, have something to eat and then crash in their bunks.  From about 11:30pm until 5am, while they are sleeping, the boat is "drifting."  Drifting means just that.  It's just drifting around the Bering Sea.  No one is steering it.  The are about a billion various alarms set, so if something gets to close or something happens in the engine room, very LOUD alarms go off.  It's all good!

The crab fishing has been pretty good.  The boat is averaging about 300 crab per pot, which is pretty good.  It took them a couple days to find the crab and get on them, but once they did, it was full pots away!  Yep.  Happy Mama!

They pulled into St. Paul to offload and started around 5:30am.  When I talked to Sean at a 11:30am Seattle time they were just pulling away from the dock, having finished with their unloading.  Soooo, how do you unload a big ole tank full of live crab? Well, you send the unloading crew from Trident Seafoods down into the fish hold, and have them start unloading, by hand. This involves about 10 guys, pretty much standing in the tank, on top of the crab, and they unloading crew starts grabbing the live crab, into a big net called a broiler bag.  Once the brailer bag is full, they are raised up by a crane and go inside the plant to be processed.  There is a scale on the bag so the weight of each bag can be recorded.  

Because the crab have to be kept have to be kept alive from the time they are caught, until the time they are delivered, they are held in a fish tank that is kept full of fresh sea water.  The crab tanks on our boat are about the size of a two car garage.  When the tanks are full, they are stuffed to the brim with crab.  Sea water is pumped in through a series of pipes so as to keep the crab alive.  Crab need to be kept alive from the time they are caught from the time they are delivered.  From the time the first crab is caught until the time the last crab is delivered, that time span can be up to a week, or 10 day.  The processors buying the crab try to minimize that time, by setting up a schedule and have boats deliver on a regular basis. The trick is to try and get the crab out of the pots and into the crab tank as fast as possible.  If not, and the weather is cold, they turn into "hockey pucks," a crab with no legs.  Inside the crab tanks is circulating sea water.  The water is flushed from the ocean to the tank continuously so the crab can stay alive in their new home, on the way to your home

Once the crab leave the boat they head into the processing plant.  There they are butchered, (cut in half) cooked, and then frozen.  Once completely frozen they are boxed up and shipped off to become part of your dining pleasure.  

So here is your fun fact for the day...my friend Joel asked how deep of water do we set the crab pots.  The Jennifer A fishes in an average water depth of about 350 feet of water.  If you look at the map and see alllll that blue water, isn't it amazing that in some parts of the ocean, that far away from land, you can be in such shallow water?!  It always amazed me when Pat and I were on the boat, (years ago!) and we were traveling up to Bristol bay...you could be 1-2 miles offshore and only have 60 feet of water under you.  While I was always amazed, Pat was even more amazed with my amazement...he'd be like, "the bottom of the ocean is like the land, you have hills, valleys, mountains, high spots and low spots.  I was like, "I know that, but we are out in the middle of the huge Bering Sea...there should be more than 60 feet of water under us!"  Obviously, it still amazes me to this day!  Like I said, fun fact...or maybe not!

Just got a text from Sean, and they have offloaded their second load in St. Paul and are headed back out to the grounds.  The crab are still crawling into the pots, and their crab per pot average was a little higher this time and had some pots that had 500-600 crab in it!  The weather this trip out was a little, "sloppy."  It wasn't to bad he said, wind gusts up to about 40 mph, and kinda rolly and lumpy most of the time...but he assured me it wasn't the kind of lumping that knocks you down or makes the crab pots swing like crazy.  Whew, thanks Bud...I think...let's just call me kinda Crabby Mama!

More pictures below, again from last year as Sean wasn't able to send any pictures from this year yet.  Hopefully you can get an idea of the tanks full of crab, and the offloading process.

More later, thanks for reading along!

Hi there,
Just a quick update for now.

The Jennifer A has been fishing now for about 48 hours and crab are starting to crawl into the pots!  The weather has been good, so they've been able to set pots, and unload them with out to much rough water.  There has been some freezing spray but nothing scary!

The picture in the middle, below, shows where the boat has slowed down to drop pots...Sometimes their path can make some unique designs!

I've made a couple changes to the blog.  On the this page, I've included a map of Alaska.  The boat is fishing crab somewhere in that big blue area, which is the Bering Sea, near the Priblof Islands, St. George, and St. Paul.  Typically, fisherman are very quiet about where they are fishing, so if they are "on the crab" other boats won't find out and come join them.  But Pat assures me I'm giving nothing away by saying the Jennifer A is fishing somewhere near the Priblofs.

I've also added a "subscribe" button on both this page, and the home page of the blog.  Just type in your email address, and every time I add a new update, you will receive an email that lets you know an new update is ready to read.  (I hope anyway, I hope I set it up right!)

But before we talk about leaving, let's talk about arriving home...Sean's arrival time into Sea Tac from Dutch Harbor 5:15am was on December 5th.  Sean walked in the door, kicked off his shoes, and went to bed.  There he proceeded to sleep until about noon, as I'm sure the rest of the crew did as well.   The next day, we hung Christmas lights, we Christmas shopped and waited for the relatives to arrive for Christmas.

The two weeks they were in Dutch Harbor, they accomplished getting all the crab pots ready to fish.  That included mending any holes in the web, checking the bouys (floats) and the throwing lines to make sure all is ready to go for fishing.  All 150'ish crab pots are loaded on board the Jennifer A.  Sean and the crew will head back up to Dutch on the 27th, and head out to the Bering Sea

The morning of the 27th, Sean and I were out the door dark and early.  Instead of driving him to the airport, I hijacked him and hid him away so he couldn't leave to go fishing in the Bering Sea, in the middle of the winter...just kidding!  I ran him over to his skipper's home, and they then headed down to the airport, met up with the rest of the crew, and all made it out to Dutch Harbor about 6:30pm on Thursday.  This is a text I received from Sean just as they landed:  "Made it into Dutch just in time before snow started falling and visibility dropped.  Had to stop in King Salmon for fuel in case we had to turn around and head back to Anchorage."  Traveling in Alaska is always an adventure, especially when your final destination is the middle of the Bering Sea, in the middle of winter...!

Yesterday in Dutch was spent doing paper work (gotta keep the insurance companies happy!), getting last minute supplies, and grub (boat talk for food!)  An old fishing tradition, or superstition, is that you never leave a port on a Friday, so at 12:01am on Saturday morning, the Jennifer A set sail for the crab fishing grounds, in the middle of the Bering Sea, in the middle of winter!

The first thing Pat did this morning was check the Jennifer A's position via the Satellite Tracking System, and see where the boat was.  We could see they had pulled out of Dutch and are making their way out to the fishing grounds.  The weather is good for traveling.  Yay!  Tonight when we checked the Sat. Track system, Pat was able the boat had slowed down getting close to the area where they will drop their pots and begin fishing.

So cool!!!  We just received an from Sean!  He said they are about 12 hours from "splashing down" their pots.  The weather has been following seas (that's good) and pretty nice.  Once the pots are down, they will need to soak for about 24 hours...and that's when we hope many many crab will crawl in and then soon be in the fish hold of the Jennifer A!  

Sean tried to send a couple pictures from Dutch yesterday, but he couldn't get connected to the internet.  I've posted some pictures of the boat ready to leave for Dutch last year, which probably looks pretty close to the boat getting ready to leave this year!  I'll post more in a couple days, once we get a feel for how fishing is going.  Do your good vibe crab dance that those little opilio crab climb into our pots!

Here's to a crab filled, health filled, safety filled, and wonderful 2013! 


 

"Just left town.  I'll call going by Sand Point.  Should be in Dutch by Friday night or Saturday morning Love you."  Text message from Sean at 5:57pm, November 20th.

As a mother, I would prefer a phone call, but in this point and this technological age, I'll take any kind a message from my kids!

The boys and the boat left Homer at 5pm on Wednesday night.  They were planning to leave early morning, but as sometimes happens, a seal on the main engine was leaking.  Homer is a small town located at the near the southern end of the Kenai peninsula.  It has a population of about 5,000 people.  It is surrounded by majestic mountains that when the sun sets, you think, "wow, now that is purple mountains majesty!"  Homer's most unique feature is a 5 mile sand spit that just out into Kachemak Bay.  The spit is well know for arty shops, some good food, and viewing eagles and other wildlife, commercial fisherman and cannery workers included! 

When Pat and I first started St. George Marine, we spent a summer working out of Homer.  We would travel to Prince William Sound.  It would take about 24 hours.  We were tendering salmon up there.  Tendering salmon involves traveling to the fishing grounds and unloading the fishing boats.  They would catch the salmon and then we would transfer them to our fish hold (that was full of refrigerated sea water) and take all the fish into town.  The fisherman have a limited time to fish and they can't spend time running back and forth to Homer.  Pat always explained tendering salmon as being a FedEx driver!  I especially enjoyed working out of Homer, because on our way to Prince William Sound, we would pass Gore Point.  Gore Point was named after John Gore (a great great great great relative) who sailed with Captain James Cook, looking for the elusive NorthWest passage.  I got a kick out of going past it, but the weather was always bad and the waters really rough...I'm sure it has nothing to do with anything right?!

Back to the leaking seal!  Because Homer is a small town, sometimes the part you need isn't available in the three engine shops located in town.  That's when you call Anchorage and hope the part is in stock there.  Luck would have it that the part was available and the shop would send it out on the first plane to Homer.  (Alaska Airlines flies into Homer, and many parts and packages are flown out via a Gold streak service.  That means, we'll get the part quickly, for an added charge.  But hey, waiting time is money and when you are set to leave town, and then sidelined by waiting for parts, you want it now, so you can go!)  Of course the part  missed the 9:30am flight and the next flight wasn't until 3:30pm.  As soon as the part arrived, it was changed out, all systems checked again, and then they were off, finally.  

Travel time to Dutch Harbor is about 3 days.  We anticipated that the Jennifer A and crew would arrive in Dutch late Friday night...too late for Sean to call his mom and tell her that all was well...but we receive a great call on Thanksgiving from Sean.  They were passing a fishing area called Sand Point and they found some cell service.  I'm always amazed when I talk to Sean and he is out in the middle of the ocean and he sounds like he is calling from the down in the garage at home.  It was good to hear his voice and he said the travel was going pretty good.  Although they did have some bumpy weather and freezing spray...Crabby Mama did not like that.  

The boat arrived in Dutch early Saturday morning.  When we called Sean, later in the day, they were busy getting crab pots organized, and figuring out which ones needed need new line, or "shots" in crab lingo.  Of course we called again today, and they were loading crab pots on to the deck of the Jennifer A.  The crab pots we fish with are 6.5 feet, by 6.5 feet and weigh about 700 pounds each.  We'll be fishing with a little over 150 pots this year.  The Jennifer A is able to carry all her pots on deck, and loading them is an art!  

One feature on the Jennifer A is a Satellite Tracking System.  In 2005, National Marine Fisheries required that the satellite tracking system be on each vessel in the crab fishery.  This is to ensure that boats are fishing where they are supposed to be and not in closed waters, taking crab illegally.  At first I grumbled about "big brother" at it's finest.  But now, as Crabby Mama, I love it.  We can log on to a secure website and actually track the Jennifer A in real time.  So at anytime, when the boat is in the Bering Sea this winter, we can log on, and see where they are fishing, what the weather is like and how long they have been out.  It's pretty cool.  There are some pictures that show the boat when it was running to Dutch Harbor.  

On a personal note, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We spent ours up on Camano Island, with the Dwyer side of the family.  This is the holiday that all the Dwyer brothers get together to celebrate.  Pat is number 5 out of 6 boys!  This year we had 5 brothers...the only brother not able to make it was Paul in Hong Kong.  But he was here for a month ins September so we all got to visit with him, and Andi, his wife, then.  

For those of you who don't know, Pat was diagnosed with ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease 7 years ago.  He is in a wheelchair full time, and needs assistance for every aspect of daily living.  His breathing is supported by a non invasive ventilator, and his speech is becoming more slurred as the muscles in his face become affected by ALS.  He has made the decision not to go on an invasive ventilator, so we have transitioned into Hospice care.  It was great having the brothers around all weekend and doing nothing except watching football, and setting fires.  (We took a bunch of trees down here on Camano Island, and Brenna was set on burning all the branches and debris that couldn't be cut up for firewood.  The pyro Dywers' come by it naturally as Pat's mom, loved to burn anything and everything at their place on Camano Island.)  The fires brought back stories of when the Dwyer brothers were younger, and it was good.  Of course this time, the Dwyer boys had the added benefit of loading the burn pile with the excavator!  There was a bit of a learning curve for them, but soon, the debris pile was gone and the fire was hot and high.  We missed Sean, but he is off on his own adventure and we respect his choice....kind of!

I think that's about all for now.  Check out the pictures and I'll do another post when we have more pictures.  Thanks for reading along.