“Alright guys, we’ve made a lot of ice tonight. It’s going to be a pain in the ass. The top of the stack is completely covered up, forward the mesh is all sealed in, the seeds are up. Don’t worry about scrambling to get one over. If I beep, just get it over when you can. Just be nice and safe out there, okay? Stay warm. Just overnight here. We’ve definitely taken some ice on board, and you know, just to make the work area safer, we got to chip a bunch of ice and get all that off of there. Heads up, so ice is coming your way. We need to find something right out of the gate and then get to town. I’m going to try and get as quick as I can.”
Racing a parade of super El Nino-fueled low-pressure systems and a super-sized fleet, Captain Keith Coburn prepares to set his first pots of the winter season, 80 miles north of traditional grounds.
“We are definitely the lone ranger out here. Tell me about the weather, OJ—too early for this, it’s too cold and sloppy, man. Okay, let’s go ahead and get somebody up there to knock that ice off. We’re going to need some help. I got this.”
It’s hard enough working out there to begin with, but now everything’s frozen solid. You’re colder than hell, and your body’s just fighting to stay warm. “Come on, baby, days like today where you contemplate life’s decisions. Okay, guys, let’s go ahead and get this first one off here. Ready? Throw it over. I don’t… oh, there’s another big swell, stay sharp. There’s some big comers out here.”
“Okay, yeah, Rod… Oh man, I am going to be one happy camper when I get this gear off the boat. Whoa, hang on, guys, coming on the port side. Just hang on for a second, power down. Hold it—whoa, whoa, whoa, what up? What up? Got hit by the down. Get somebody up on this deck!”
Suddenly, chaos erupts.
“Holy… he’s knocked down! Take this, would you? Alright, I’m on autopilot, get us into the weather. Okay, let’s take him down, let’s take him down. Let me get out there real quick. Feet first here—okay, ready? One, two… slide him around, slide him around. Nice and easy, get his upper body. You got it, nice and easy. Be careful when you lower him down there, get him down.”
“Alright, ready? We got it, keep his neck secure, keep his neck secure, right over. Just get him right here real quick, okay? Has he even blinked or anything? What’s going on here? Open his eyes since he fell, he’s out. Put one guy under his neck right here. Okay, I’m going to go do it, OJ. Don’t move, don’t move.”
“Alright guys, you’re going to have to wrestle him through here and get him into the house. Alright, ready? Keep coming straight. You got another beam coming right now, right now, right here. Okay, okay, take it easy. Just make sure you don’t let his head move. Okay, get him in, get him in, get him in nice and easy. Alright, watch your neck, watch your neck. Alright, okay, you can hear off. Let’s have you sit right here.”
“Okay, one, two, three—OJ, where are you right now, police? Okay, you remember where you’re from? Let’s get the rest of this gear up, okay? Here we go.”
“Whoa, sorry, well you take it off yourself then.”
“Alright, um, what’s going on? That’s blood for sure.”
“Oh, wow. Okay, just give me a paper towel, I can see… Alright, okay. No, OJ, I can see a little nick. Alright, don’t worry, it’ll look good when you get your next mohawk.”
“No, I’m good to go.”
“No, you’re not good to go. You’re not going back out right now. We’ve got to treat this like a concussion. I don’t know if he’s got traumatic brain injury or not. He seems perfectly normal, but he’s too proud to show any sign of weakness. He’s not going to let anybody see that. So I’m not taking any chances. Let’s go over and get this gear in the water and lick our wounds.”
“Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, OJ seems totally fine to me.”
“He does? Yeah, that’s probably because he’s got a hood and a hat and rain gear, a lot of padding. Yeah, that’s what saved him, man. Can you imagine if he got hit with just a hood on? Exactly, we’d probably have to gash him up. I’d be stitching the guy up right now.”
Days later, after a 7-pound chunk of ice fell from the crane onto the cranium of 36-year-old deckhand OJ Gonis, Captain Keith and Monty pull up on their first western bear die string of the winter season amidst building 12-foot seas.
“Just sit right here, have a seat. Take it easy. How you doing? Good job. You alright? Huh? How’s your head feel now? Just press on it. Is it feeling better now?”
“I mean, I didn’t even put a butterfly on there and there’s no swelling either. Can I go back on deck now?”
“Yeah, I don’t know. Alright OJ, any change whatsoever? You feel any feeling of getting sick, nausea, vomiting? You need to let me know immediately, right? Alright, thank you, guys.”
