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The summer tendering season begins!

6/5/2017

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Picture
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

2 Comments
Rebecca Scott
6/7/2017 04:35:48 pm

Jen, my husband and I have recently been watching the Deadliest Catch. Ironically, we have 2 children... named Sean and Brenna (Brenna Catherine). Clearly, I am now routing for Captain Sean and the Brenna A!

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Kathy Gordon
6/25/2017 03:12:02 pm

My husband and I will be in Ketchikan on Aug 17. After purchasing a shirt and supporting ALS from website, Michaela mentioned crew may be in town. If we cant run into them, where should we go to eat and tip a few?

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    A mom, an ALS Advocate, and President of our family company St. George Marine.

    #endals at: 
    Pat Dwyer Fund at ALS Therapy Development Institute 
    Captain Sean at ALS TDI
    www.fvbrennaa.com


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