Thursday, October 8, 2009

October 1st - good weather

Hello again, today is the 1st of October and I'm pleased to report we are enjoying the best weather of the entire trip! flat calm, with  virtually no wind to speak of. after yesterday's beating it was nice to  awake with little more than a gentle roll and a speed of over ten knots! The crew and myself are  taking advantage of the nice ride to complete various tasks in preparation of our landing in beautiful Dutch Harbor. the interior of the house, once thrashed, has come along way since leaving the Shipyard and you would be surprised how much dust and dirt a yard can generate. Once we reach the pass,the gang can start concentrating on offloading all the supplies and equipment we hauled north. we were kind enough to pack 150 crab pot door's for a friend Jay on the "Valiant" a fellow crab boat, and in turn saving  him hundreds of dollar's in shipping costs.The fleet is a fairly tight  knit group and tend to help each other out whenever possible. A boat sailing north or south rarely does so without some type of extra baggage, be it a crewman wanting to avoid a costly airline ticket or several case's of crab, with  frozen air freight costing  almost two dollars a pound, multiple  case's would be a pretty  penny.
         
    The bulk of supplies we have stowed on board, is no doubt, the Production teams camera equipment. all told the amount of gear nearly fill's a semi-truck trailer and  basically fills our forward line room, located in the bow . Some of the equipment, such as large crated generators and a four wheeled ATV, which could'nt fit in the bow ,had to be tarpped and chained to the forward deck. They seemed to have traveled well and I'm confident have remained dry. Most of the camera's and such are packed in large   Pelican case's, to ward off damage in tranist, and provide a watertight atmosphere.all told there are 190 of said case's in the bow. It is a understatement to say these people don't travel lite!!
    Last but not least, is the camera man. Merely a kid in his early twenties, he helped load the above. and sailed north with us. Never having had the pleasure of being on the open ocean before, he suffered a horrible case of seasickness, spares'ly seen, he spent most of the voyage  in a bunk. He's not the first to have such a trip and without doubt not the last.
     Will continue later,before  we enter the pass, and again upon reaching Dutch Harbor Capt.Monte "Wizard Mouse"    

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