We worked a 36 hour grind because weather was coming. I just woke up from a 10 hour sleep. Im feeling pretty good.
It looks like im onshore until Friday due to weather.
The weathers been tough this year. I like the breaks its giving me. It gives my body time to heal and recover in between trips which is nice.
My hands hurt. And my wrist hates me.
I have three purple fingernails. Two were pinched by crabs. When you handle thousands of crabs, your going to get pinched.
The other one was smashed landing a wild crab pot.
I work the rail. Its the most dangerous position on the boat. I help get the buoy in the block, manage the rope as it comes up and get control of the pot and land it. Its a fun job. I love it! Especially when theres alot of crab!
Minimal injuries this year.
Last year I hyperextended my knee five days into the season. It hurt so much. I had to tough it out. It was miserable.
My left hand and wrist were so swollen I thought my hand was going to pop like a balloon.
I got hit in the face so hard by a buoy I had two black eyes, and I couldn’t breathe out of my nose for days.
We fished bad weather so I had no time to heal. I just had to keep working.
I was snorting oxys in between strings. Thats how i got through it.
A string is a line of crab pots. Usually fifty to 100 pots
I was almost 90 days sober starting out that trip. A week into the trip i was looking forward to drinking when i got to shore and thats what I did!
We stuffed the boat with crab and made our first landing. I couldnt get off the boat so i wasnt drinking yet, but I was able to buy 50 oxys off the dock.
As we set sail to go fill the boat again, I felt like I was sailing straight into hell.
I was. Bad weather, heavy seas, and sixty hour grinds.
I hated my coworkers. Everyone was miserable, so they were miserable to work with.
The block guy was so hard to work with that I wanted to throw him overboard.
He would lean way over the rail to get the next buoy as it approached.he would keep one leg on the floor and lift the other up.
I was so mad at him i thought about flipping his legs over the rail. Fortunately for both of us, i never actually did it, but i wanted to. I really wanted to.
It was his first year on the block. He wasnt very good at it. It made my job alot harder.
The block is the hydraulic reel that brings the crab pot up from the bottom of the ocean at sixty mph. Its fast!
He was mean. He constantly screamed at me for no valid reason. He called me degrading names and blamed me for every mistake he made.
He frequently bragged about how good at fighting he is, and how he would do anything to win. He frequently talked about how he would stab someone.
We came close to fighting multiple times. I stick up for myself.
Pushing him over the rail felt like it would be the easiest solution to the problem.
I noticed sudden energy changes in him. He’d go from zombie mode to energized bunny mode. He was using meth. That made me want some.
Three weeks of sixty hour grinds with minimal sleep will make you want to try anything to help.
Three weeks into last crab season we took a break. I spent one night onshore. I spent that night in the bar. Drunk.
I’m three weeks into this season and I feel really good. I had zero desire to drink last night. Im onshore until friday weather pending.
I love my new job. We have fun. We get the job done without anybody yelling.
Nobody disrespects anyone, unlike the other boat.
The skipper is always throwing sandwiches and burritos and other snacks and drinks while were grinding.
Ive worked half as hard and made more money.
I had alot of anxiety quitting that job. And about this crab season .
It all worked out for the better.
