A Life Wasted

Commercial Fishing

We made boat shopping a family affair. Because I had already visited Homer's docks we drove there first. While there we visited the closed campground where a sixty-something woman - Jane something I think - was famous for feeding bald eagles through the winter. There had been a spread in National Geographic about her and her eagles as well as a documentary. The winter bald eagles at her campground were reputed to be the largest gathering of bald eagles in the world. Having witnessed this first hand on numerous occasions I don't doubt it. The first time I met Jane I attempted to get out of my car to take photos of the hundreds of bald eagles gathered on her grounds. Before my foot hit the ground she was standing before me with a shot gun. She said, "Can't you read." Not one to argue with a woman with a shot gun I said, "Usually." She pointed at a sign that faced me. The sign was covered in snow to such a degree that I couldn't see the words. When I pointed this out she hit the sign with her hand. It instructed people like myself that it was okay to take pictures from our cars, but not to get out of the car under any circumstances. Jane accepted my apology and left me alone. I stayed in the car. Eagles were as close as ten feet. Jane's discussion with me caused them to move back another five feet, but none flew off.

We walked the docks of Homer but didn't see any boats for sale. I asked a boat skipper and was directed to a large dry dock in Homer. The dry dock was huge with many fishing boats for sale. Most were out of my price range. One that I would be able to afford with a little owner financing belonged to the Russian widow of the fisherman who had died on it. No thanks. A few days later we followed a lead to Seward and there I found my boat. At thirty-eight foot, the North Wind was small by Alaska standards. The seas were big so the boats needed to be big as well. However the North Wind had few design differences that my seasoned sailor's eye liked. It's hull design was a double-ender, a Norwegian design with a stern built much like the bow. This allowed a small boat to survive what's known as a following sea. Meaning, waves that hit the boat from behind. I'd not actually seen a double-ender before, but had read about them and understood their value in heavy seas. The Russian boat we had looked at in Homer had a standard squared stern. The crew of that boat died because a wave overtook them from behind. A following sea. Though the North Wind was smaller than the square backed Russian boat, the North Wind's crew would have survived the seas that killed the Russians because of it's unique design.

The other thing I liked about the North Wind was it's five foot draft. Meaning, five foot of the boat was below the water line. A deep draft for a thirty-eight foot boat. I'd already seen Alaskan commercial fishing boats twice the North Wind's size with less draft. The North Wind would be slow because of so much bulk below the waterline, but safer in heavy seas. The down side to the North Wind was that it was made of wood, it's motor ruined, and it's fishing gear mostly gone. But the price was right so I could repair boat and gear and have a boat I would feel safe in.

I was ready to buy the North Wind where it sat in the water at the Seward public dock until my wife slowed me down. "Are you sure this is what you want to do," she asked. "Absolutely," I said, but she was used to my enthusiasm so not impressed. "You can't know its what you want to do because you've never actually been on the water in Alaska." True I admitted. My wife wisely suggested I hire on to a commercial fishing boat as a crew member to see if I liked it and to gain experience before sinking all our money into a boat. She was right. Of course she was. Mary rarely tried to slow me down, but when she did she was always right.

Finding a job on a commercial fishing boat proved to be difficult. but when I did I barely had time to call Mary to tell her I was going to sea. We sailed east from Seward. (Sail is a nautical term. There are no fishing boats under sail in Alaska).  A 100 miles off the coast of Alaska when we "wet our gear." A long-liner's fishing gear type is a mile long line full of baited hooks. This line is then anchored to the bottom of the ocean to catch fish that feed on the ocean floor. In Alaska this means halibut, black cod, gray cod, ling cod, and red snapper. All commercial fishing is hard work, but long-line fishing is the most demanding. Every eighteen inches of the mile long line has a baited hook. Each of those hooks has to be baited by hand. All of that bait has to be cut and prepared by hand and every fish caught has to have its head cut off and its guts removed. When that is done, the hooks have to be baited again. It is a grueling and unending task. At the beginning of this trip I didn't know any of this so Mary was right, I had a lot to learn.