Today is Bob's birthday! We'll have carrot cake tonight.
Getting things done here requires so much flexibility - it's like racing with your left wrist tied to your right ankle. It turns out that we have no GCI phone reception on the beach. With Bristol Bay cellular, at least we have some. Eddie Clark mentioned a "bag" phone. I'm not sure what that is, but he says that its reception is great. Lolly says that it must be tied to AC power, so it can't go in the boat. At this point, having a phone in the boat seems like a luxury when we have a VHF radio. I ended up canceling the GCI contract today - it really isn't very useful if it has no reception at the beach. Maybe next year.
The throttle cable for the Honda outboard worries me. So I went to the AGS parts room to see if they could order one. But they needed information that's on the cable or the throttle apparatus and that's in the boat, down the beach, out in the mud. So I tried Charlie's Sport Shop in King Salmon and they're down one person and all around swamped so no one was able to answer the phone. I tried to call again when I got back to the cabin, but it's so hard when the reception is so spotty. But eventually I understood that it would take them 2 weeks to order it for me, so that isn't a good way to go. So I tried to call Bayside Marine in Everett where be bought the outboard in the first place... and the call dropped. Tried back - each time it takes a calling card - and didn't dial fast enough so ATT ended the call. Tried an email and then decided to try again. Got them! Many repeated questions and answers later, they could find the old invoice! They knew the cable type and length! Many more repetitions later, along with despair that the call had probably dropped (it hadn't - it was just a low spot in the transmission waves, I guess), we decided to have it shipped to my house in Seattle so my sister can pick it up as she swings through from Micronesia on her way up to join the crew on Wednesday night/ Thursday morning. So we should have a new throttle cable by Thursday afternoon.
I still feel like we're almost ready, despite today's realization that one skiff is dicey because of the throttle cable, another because of the carburetor for the roller's power pack, and the third (I hope) because of a faulty fuel hose connection. That just leaves our little 16' Grayling skiff with the outboard that pretty much runs fast or not at all.
I love it here, but the only thing easy about it is the breathing. That's a lot.
The crew went to set up the nets in the boats for setting on Monday at 9 am. We'll have quite a bit of water then, so it'll be a deep water set, meaning that we won't be able to have someone standing at the inside buoy holding it as we walk the skiff toward it, trailing the net out the side as we go. It's not a sexy way to set, but it's steady, the net gets set without problems, and no one gets hurt. But on Monday at 9 am the water will be too deep for anyone to be outside the boat pushing it along; we'll need to use the outboard. The risk with that is getting web in the prop. A very bad situation. But Monday will be a good day to practice that, just in case we need to do it when the fishing is heavy. We may use an anchor - run from the outside buoy toward the inside buoy with no intention of catching it and when we run out of net, toss out an anchor. Then at slack water (when the tide is high and not pulling the net one way or the other as it prepares to start going out), we can pick up the anchor and connect the buoy to the net until Wednesday at 9 am when we are required to pick the nets up.
The report from the crew when they returned from working with the boats was that the throttle in the Ambi has given up entirely. Glad I ordered the new cable today. In the unlikely event that the fishing will be heavy before Thursday when Trina arrives, we'll be able to tow the Ambi to one net and have part of the crew just go back and forth under that net. Then the Bathtub and the Grayling will cover the three other nets. (I was able to get the Yamaha fitting for the fuel line for the Bathtub. Bob looked at the old fitting and could see why it wasn't working. He put on the new end and after the second try, it seems to work. One down.)
After carrot cake, we headed into town to go dancing at the Red Dog. Of course, it was a blast. I even washed my hair for the occasion. Makenzie, Ev and Tony met us there. Wendy Lee and Todd were in fine form. It was a wonderful night.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Friday, June 18, 2010
Pre-season June 18, Day 19
How I hope that this will be the last long day in town until the end of the season. Todd from Alpha called to let us know that the skiff is ready!! Yippee!! That was really fast. So we scampered into town, swapped the red truck for the white truck with the trailer hitch and went to get it. It's kind of scary dragging that big boat around.
We got it back to the cannery and began its preparations. Water (track down Brad for the adapter for the firehose), test the outboard (check), install the plugs (check), test the power roller (check sort of - the power pack works and the roller works, but the throttle on the power pack moves but doesn't affect the speed of the engine. Maybe it's just stiff?), tie offs, bailing bucket, and other accessories (check, check, check). Better ask Roy to take a look at the power pack.
While waiting for the time to get into the water, Bob and I went to get some ... uh... refreshments for the beach gang so they'll feel like bringing us some lumber, some of which we'll scavenge for the walkways and miscellaneous hillbilly building projects. While there, we noticed that the GCI guy was in so we went and both signed up for a phone, which apparently does not get any reception on the beach. Now we know that.
I went back to the cannery expecting to pick up Erik's laptop and Josh's backpack... but I found Erik, Josh, and Paul - Roy looked at the carburetor on the roller's powerpack and it won't do. Must order a new one. It'll take a couple of days... starting Monday. Sigh. Oh well, we need to change out that hydraulic oil anyhow. We'll just do it at the one speed that the engine runs.
When we got back to the cabins, we found that Jake and Chris had built me a structure to house the composting toilet. I was beginning to consider just putting it on the tundra someplace with a tarp that I could crawl under - who needs a whole separate room? But the crew was very responsive to my request. And Jeff began the installation of the toilet today too.
Liz
We got it back to the cannery and began its preparations. Water (track down Brad for the adapter for the firehose), test the outboard (check), install the plugs (check), test the power roller (check sort of - the power pack works and the roller works, but the throttle on the power pack moves but doesn't affect the speed of the engine. Maybe it's just stiff?), tie offs, bailing bucket, and other accessories (check, check, check). Better ask Roy to take a look at the power pack.
While waiting for the time to get into the water, Bob and I went to get some ... uh... refreshments for the beach gang so they'll feel like bringing us some lumber, some of which we'll scavenge for the walkways and miscellaneous hillbilly building projects. While there, we noticed that the GCI guy was in so we went and both signed up for a phone, which apparently does not get any reception on the beach. Now we know that.
I went back to the cannery expecting to pick up Erik's laptop and Josh's backpack... but I found Erik, Josh, and Paul - Roy looked at the carburetor on the roller's powerpack and it won't do. Must order a new one. It'll take a couple of days... starting Monday. Sigh. Oh well, we need to change out that hydraulic oil anyhow. We'll just do it at the one speed that the engine runs.
When we got back to the cabins, we found that Jake and Chris had built me a structure to house the composting toilet. I was beginning to consider just putting it on the tundra someplace with a tarp that I could crawl under - who needs a whole separate room? But the crew was very responsive to my request. And Jeff began the installation of the toilet today too.
Liz
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Pre-season June 17, Day 18
Great day today. We're almost ready to move into The Season – no longer pre-season. Many successes – it started out as a good call with parking the truck off the beach. We couldn't really cross Monsen Creek at high water. Paul ferried us on the four-wheeler to the creek. I was the only one not in gear (it is my policy to wear waders only when we're about to go into the water. Otherwise, we run the risk of tearing them. Easy enough to do when we're actually fishing. Why add to the risk when we're not fishing?) We got to town in time for Mike to put our skiffs into the water almost at high tide. Jake hurried down with the Bathtub (which lost its fuel hose during the trip and then, after he'd arrived at the sites, it died for good - I think because of a faulty connection with the fuel hose. I'm hoping that new connectors will fix it.) I was surprised that we got in so early, thinking Mike would want to use the depth for the big boats. But as Josh pointed out, we're quick - and Mike was worried about the wind picking back up again.
I got to wear the new fishing outfit (photo will be supplied), we found the lost nets (that was a big worry), and we retrieved the propane truck. We still have a few problems to work out before we start fishing in earnest on Monday – we need to get The New Boat back, but Todd said he was working on the pin-striping, so he must be making progress and when we get it back, we have to run it through the tests and preparations before we can drop it into the water. And we need to fix the fuel line and ends on The Bathtub. And if we can, we need to get a new cable for the throttle on the Honda. But we’re in good shape.
Chris and Jake built me a new structure in which to place the new composting toilet that I traded my friend Tim for, in exchange for a life time supply of king salmon.
Josh and I went back into town - he was going to bring down the boom truck and I had an interview to do. Josh spent a lot of time organizing the net locker and we were able to put all our frozen food into the new freezer (that we now trust, although I think I'll be checking on it regularly for most of the season).
Last night Jake and Chris poked their heads into my cabin to let me know that when they were walking the beach, they saw a truck with the red buoy with Jake’s name on it in the back – the pulled it out and brought it home. We fixed the rope today. I’m sure it the corroded ring that just sawed away at the line holding the buoy.
We pulled in our nets tonight – the period closes Friday morning at 9 am – about at high water.
And best of all, we played CatchPhrase and I had the great pleasure of learning more about the guys I’m working with. We learned from Bob that if we can get eggs fresh from the chicken and coat them in Vaseline, they'll last for a long time (it's a seaman's trick), because it's the air that gets in and spoils them). This year's crew is delightful, funny, intuitive, and some are good mind-readers which is a real benefit in my boat because under stress I have the unfortunate characteristic of getting anomia – or really, misnomia: “Hook up the… fairlead” “Plug, plug, plug” “Pull the … gaff hook!! Quick!!” That problem is much corrected if they can read my mind, so it looks like it’s going to be a great season of crew.
It did take a while for people to loosen up – it kept feeling like they were afraid they’d get in trouble if they laughed.
Plus the sun came out today – after we brought the boats down in the bitter cold.
Liz
I got to wear the new fishing outfit (photo will be supplied), we found the lost nets (that was a big worry), and we retrieved the propane truck. We still have a few problems to work out before we start fishing in earnest on Monday – we need to get The New Boat back, but Todd said he was working on the pin-striping, so he must be making progress and when we get it back, we have to run it through the tests and preparations before we can drop it into the water. And we need to fix the fuel line and ends on The Bathtub. And if we can, we need to get a new cable for the throttle on the Honda. But we’re in good shape.
Chris and Jake built me a new structure in which to place the new composting toilet that I traded my friend Tim for, in exchange for a life time supply of king salmon.
Josh and I went back into town - he was going to bring down the boom truck and I had an interview to do. Josh spent a lot of time organizing the net locker and we were able to put all our frozen food into the new freezer (that we now trust, although I think I'll be checking on it regularly for most of the season).
Last night Jake and Chris poked their heads into my cabin to let me know that when they were walking the beach, they saw a truck with the red buoy with Jake’s name on it in the back – the pulled it out and brought it home. We fixed the rope today. I’m sure it the corroded ring that just sawed away at the line holding the buoy.
We pulled in our nets tonight – the period closes Friday morning at 9 am – about at high water.
And best of all, we played CatchPhrase and I had the great pleasure of learning more about the guys I’m working with. We learned from Bob that if we can get eggs fresh from the chicken and coat them in Vaseline, they'll last for a long time (it's a seaman's trick), because it's the air that gets in and spoils them). This year's crew is delightful, funny, intuitive, and some are good mind-readers which is a real benefit in my boat because under stress I have the unfortunate characteristic of getting anomia – or really, misnomia: “Hook up the… fairlead” “Plug, plug, plug” “Pull the … gaff hook!! Quick!!” That problem is much corrected if they can read my mind, so it looks like it’s going to be a great season of crew.
It did take a while for people to loosen up – it kept feeling like they were afraid they’d get in trouble if they laughed.
Plus the sun came out today – after we brought the boats down in the bitter cold.
Liz
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Pre-season June 16, Day 17
This is the next to last productive thing for the day. The last productive thing will be to take the truck to the beach access road to park it because we are due at the cannery tomorrow morning at 8 am, right at high water – and it’s about a 25 foot tide, so I’m not sure we’ll be able to get there via truck at that time.
The reason we need to be there at 8 am is because we will be poised, waiting for a break in this big wind we’ve been having, to drop the next two boats in. Mike, the crane operator, is afraid that if he picks up the skiff in this weather, it’ll become a kite. And we are all concerned that this is the weather for the season (not all that much fun in a skiff, especially in the surf break when we’re delivering to the trucks on the beach), so we need to be there, ready for a break in the weather, when they’ll pick it up and lower it down, and we’ll follow down the ladder and head back down to the sites. I sort of doubt that he’ll put us in on top of the tide. That’s more when the big boats go in - our skiffs require so little water that we can go in when they can’t, so it’ll probably be around 10 before we’ll get in the water. On the other hand, we do get a little priority when the weather breaks because we are so much lighter, we're more sensitive to the wind.
Tabs for the red truck arrived today and were installed (after tearing it in half removing it from the registration). It's good to be legal.
Harry went home today, not to return because of his knee. First, though, he helped me tow the New Boat up to Alfa welding to get the nose bobbed. It sounds like because of Roy’s help, Todd will be able to get to it fairly quickly. The bow has a really sharp point and as a result 1) it slices up the net as the crew pulls it up out of the water, resting the corkline on the bow peak; and 2) with such a pointy bow, there’s really only room for one person up there and it’s a job that requires at least two – that net is heavy.
They’ve been overly swamped at AGS with the acquisition of Baywatch. They didn’t really understand what it would take to get it running like an AGS plant, but I think they’re going to pull it off. A few things will be lost in the process – like some of the modifications to the New Boat, the mechanic-ing on the drift boat, all that stuff for all the fishermen, I think. Maybe next year will be a little calmer. It doesn’t take much to make friends with people this year, though. All I have to do is not crab at them for what they haven’t done and be grateful for what they have.
Today’s adventures involved changing out the hydraulic oil on the Bathtub, teaching splicing to Paul and Jeff, replacing the anchor in the Bathtub, dragging the New Boat to Alfa, removing the rowboat from the Grayling and bringing it down on the truck.
And Murphy is with us – last week I scheduled an interview for Thursday at 10 – what could I be doing at 10 on Thursday before the real fishing starts? Um, that’s probably the very moment in this entire week that Mike can drop us in. As Josh said, a conspiracy of circumstances…”Wait for it… wait for it… ah! There! Yes – 10 o’clock! Perfect!”
Liz
The reason we need to be there at 8 am is because we will be poised, waiting for a break in this big wind we’ve been having, to drop the next two boats in. Mike, the crane operator, is afraid that if he picks up the skiff in this weather, it’ll become a kite. And we are all concerned that this is the weather for the season (not all that much fun in a skiff, especially in the surf break when we’re delivering to the trucks on the beach), so we need to be there, ready for a break in the weather, when they’ll pick it up and lower it down, and we’ll follow down the ladder and head back down to the sites. I sort of doubt that he’ll put us in on top of the tide. That’s more when the big boats go in - our skiffs require so little water that we can go in when they can’t, so it’ll probably be around 10 before we’ll get in the water. On the other hand, we do get a little priority when the weather breaks because we are so much lighter, we're more sensitive to the wind.
Tabs for the red truck arrived today and were installed (after tearing it in half removing it from the registration). It's good to be legal.
Harry went home today, not to return because of his knee. First, though, he helped me tow the New Boat up to Alfa welding to get the nose bobbed. It sounds like because of Roy’s help, Todd will be able to get to it fairly quickly. The bow has a really sharp point and as a result 1) it slices up the net as the crew pulls it up out of the water, resting the corkline on the bow peak; and 2) with such a pointy bow, there’s really only room for one person up there and it’s a job that requires at least two – that net is heavy.
They’ve been overly swamped at AGS with the acquisition of Baywatch. They didn’t really understand what it would take to get it running like an AGS plant, but I think they’re going to pull it off. A few things will be lost in the process – like some of the modifications to the New Boat, the mechanic-ing on the drift boat, all that stuff for all the fishermen, I think. Maybe next year will be a little calmer. It doesn’t take much to make friends with people this year, though. All I have to do is not crab at them for what they haven’t done and be grateful for what they have.
Today’s adventures involved changing out the hydraulic oil on the Bathtub, teaching splicing to Paul and Jeff, replacing the anchor in the Bathtub, dragging the New Boat to Alfa, removing the rowboat from the Grayling and bringing it down on the truck.
And Murphy is with us – last week I scheduled an interview for Thursday at 10 – what could I be doing at 10 on Thursday before the real fishing starts? Um, that’s probably the very moment in this entire week that Mike can drop us in. As Josh said, a conspiracy of circumstances…”Wait for it… wait for it… ah! There! Yes – 10 o’clock! Perfect!”
Liz
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Pre-season June 15, Day 16
Another long day in town. Two fish on this morning’s tide, but others that were breakfast for about 4-6 seals. We found the roller for the Ambi – it was upstairs in the stockroom – for I don’t know how long. I asked Roy to make us new hydraulic hoses, and he told me about food grade hydraulic oil which I thought was great, so we drained the old hydraulic oil and replaced it with … what smells like salad oil. It’s sort of complicated to get the power hose and the return hose properly hooked up, even though when Roy made it for us in the first place, he thought way ahead to make it as easy as possible.
The throttle on the power pack was stuck and messing with it, I pulled the little wire off the choke. Sigh. Harry fixed that for me – it took a little time, but he’s patient. Josh brought up the battery for the boat, we got it hooked up, installed the radio, got the little rabbit ears for the hose to test the outboard (without burning it up). It (finally) started, though the steering mechanism wouldn’t budge and the throttle cable looks and acts really corroded.
Josh and Jake got much of the painting done on the boats. The sides of the boats take a beating – pulling the nets over them so many times. It just scrapes the paint right off. So we should repaint each year. We needed a new plug for the Ambi. The one I brought from Seattle was too small, as was the one available from the stock room. Luckily, the one we found at Napa fit – yay!
The freezer saga continued, but I think with Roy’s help, David was able to complete the work and I think it’s running properly now. We put this afternoon’s catch of 20+ fish, headed and gutted, in it and turned it on to “MaxFreeze.” We’ll find out tomorrow how it worked. Those fish did raise the temp of the freezer from -10 to 23. Yikes!
We unpacked two black garbage bags of clothes from the net locker. Some perfectly wearable clothes – so we did five loads of laundry. Josh and Jake got them started; I finished them.
Roy cut us a new fairlead for the Grayling – I think that one is ready now. Tomorrow we’ll get the Bathtub ready. That requires the placement of the roller and power pack (after checking its oil and gas) and replacing the hydraulic oil with the food grade oil, and the installation of the Yamaha 60 – it’s a great outboard, but it’s heavy!! As well as finding and installing the plug in the boat, getting out the accessories (fairleads, bailing buckets, anchor, fuel tank… and nets! I think we’ll bring nets this time -- uh oh, we can't find them!)
They brought down the Bathtub and Roy said he’d try to get the nose cut off the New Boat. It’s really pointy and hard on the nets.
Bob and Erik have achieved water at the edge of the cliff! They used a submersible pump out at the glorified pond we call a lake, 600' of romex electrical cable to run power out to it and 600' of hard plastic hose to run water from it. It accumulates in a barrel at the edge of the cliff and gravity helps it over and down the cliff where we'll use it to wash down. That will be great! And the siphon is enough to refill the barrel. Even better!
And my tundra-ator can testify to the water in the tundra. The tundra-ator is a hole in the floor of the cabin with a basket in it where I keep food that needs to remain chilled. Out of the sun and 18" away from the permafrost, it does a pretty good job. But every now and the, it floods. It was hard on a bag of smoked salmon which had to become Sage's dinner. Dang.
Paul came in today. It was great to see him. He’s like one of my kids. I think he named Lynnie's cabin: "What's with the SpaceHut?" He's the one who, when he came in 2007 the first time, crested the cliff and announced, "This is the most-ghettoest place I've ever stayed. It's cool."
Harry will go out tomorrow and won’t return this season because of his injured knee. It is very difficult for him.
Liz
The throttle on the power pack was stuck and messing with it, I pulled the little wire off the choke. Sigh. Harry fixed that for me – it took a little time, but he’s patient. Josh brought up the battery for the boat, we got it hooked up, installed the radio, got the little rabbit ears for the hose to test the outboard (without burning it up). It (finally) started, though the steering mechanism wouldn’t budge and the throttle cable looks and acts really corroded.
Josh and Jake got much of the painting done on the boats. The sides of the boats take a beating – pulling the nets over them so many times. It just scrapes the paint right off. So we should repaint each year. We needed a new plug for the Ambi. The one I brought from Seattle was too small, as was the one available from the stock room. Luckily, the one we found at Napa fit – yay!
The freezer saga continued, but I think with Roy’s help, David was able to complete the work and I think it’s running properly now. We put this afternoon’s catch of 20+ fish, headed and gutted, in it and turned it on to “MaxFreeze.” We’ll find out tomorrow how it worked. Those fish did raise the temp of the freezer from -10 to 23. Yikes!
We unpacked two black garbage bags of clothes from the net locker. Some perfectly wearable clothes – so we did five loads of laundry. Josh and Jake got them started; I finished them.
Roy cut us a new fairlead for the Grayling – I think that one is ready now. Tomorrow we’ll get the Bathtub ready. That requires the placement of the roller and power pack (after checking its oil and gas) and replacing the hydraulic oil with the food grade oil, and the installation of the Yamaha 60 – it’s a great outboard, but it’s heavy!! As well as finding and installing the plug in the boat, getting out the accessories (fairleads, bailing buckets, anchor, fuel tank… and nets! I think we’ll bring nets this time -- uh oh, we can't find them!)
They brought down the Bathtub and Roy said he’d try to get the nose cut off the New Boat. It’s really pointy and hard on the nets.
Bob and Erik have achieved water at the edge of the cliff! They used a submersible pump out at the glorified pond we call a lake, 600' of romex electrical cable to run power out to it and 600' of hard plastic hose to run water from it. It accumulates in a barrel at the edge of the cliff and gravity helps it over and down the cliff where we'll use it to wash down. That will be great! And the siphon is enough to refill the barrel. Even better!
And my tundra-ator can testify to the water in the tundra. The tundra-ator is a hole in the floor of the cabin with a basket in it where I keep food that needs to remain chilled. Out of the sun and 18" away from the permafrost, it does a pretty good job. But every now and the, it floods. It was hard on a bag of smoked salmon which had to become Sage's dinner. Dang.
Paul came in today. It was great to see him. He’s like one of my kids. I think he named Lynnie's cabin: "What's with the SpaceHut?" He's the one who, when he came in 2007 the first time, crested the cliff and announced, "This is the most-ghettoest place I've ever stayed. It's cool."
Harry will go out tomorrow and won’t return this season because of his injured knee. It is very difficult for him.
Liz
Monday, June 14, 2010
Pre-season June 14, Day 15
Argh!! We tried to do so many things today (and I’m afraid that my knee is in trouble). It was blowing hard. I think if I were driving down Aurora with my head out the window, I’d have to be driving at least 40 MPH for to feel the same wind resistance. So I think it was blowing that hard. The weather said 23 MPH with gusts to 30. But I think it’s a little faster on the coast.
We went into town early (by the first mug-up, where the cannery provides us with snacks, like donuts and coffee) to try to get the boats ready. It’s an ordeal. It’s not as simple as plugs, outboards, anchors, bailers, fairleads, brailers, nets, tie-offs, extra gas, roller (still not here yet for the big boat), power pack… what else? We also have to make sure everything works. Power pack have clean oil and gas? Does it run? Need to find a hose so we can run water thru the outboard while we test that. Uh oh, where did we leave the battery for the outboard? And the motor mounts for the power pack are broken – luckily the port engineers at our cannery are not only creative and talented, they are good to us. We also ran around looking for stickers for the licenses for the skiffs ($65 in stickers from the hardware store!), our waders (first at Northland – yep, AGS did pick them up, then at the Baywatch plant as Big Brad had originally suggested – which is just where they were!), another cell phone – hoping the reception will be better. The GCI guys are supposed to be at the D&D restaurant on Mondays, except not today because they are in Dillingham. Sigh.
There was plenty we couldn’t do to finish the boats – too wet to paint; batteries not charged; the bow of the new boat hasn’t been blunted; the Ambi doesn’t have its roller. And they wouldn’t have dropped us in the water anyway because of the wind. I was straining to get home and grouchy.
Despite all that, we decided to put out the rest of the buoys tonight and get the net out. So we all geared up and traipsed (slogged is really the word for how we get through the mud), dragging the buoys (three per site), two anchors, one turning bar, the hardware, three anchor lines, the tools, and a rock because we can’t find the sledge hammer – it might have gone up in the fire. We paced off the distance between anchors that we could find to figure out where to look for the anchors we couldn’t find which is where we ended up placing the anchor we couldn’t find.
It’s a complicated process – we want to buoys attached to the anchor via an anchor line for the season. We must be able to remove it at the end of the season, but we don’t want it to come apart during the season. So we use healthy lines, smooth rings, shackles with wires through the eye and around the shaft. And the corkline of the net will attach to the ring that the buoy also attaches to.
We got it all paced off, the two new anchors down, the buoys attached. Several times I heard myself say, “This isn’t quite right, but we’ll fix it when we set the nets out here for the first time.” It’s a long way in to the beach to get whatever we forgot. And really, all we need is for the buoys to stay with the anchors until we get the nets on them. Which we won’t do until we have at least one boat we can use.
But we did put out the inside site. We got lucky on that one. We pulled both nets out of their bags, stacked them with the corks together near the line that runs from the buoy to the inside anchor (the running line) and the leads away from the running line. One pile of corks sure looked bigger than the other. Maybe the other was just spread out. So we piled the nets in our hands and started to walk out, dragging the bits of net between our handfuls behind us. We walked and dragged until it became taut and drop a hitch, walked a few more steps, dropped a hitch, and so on until the first pair (one on leads, one on corks) was empty-handed. Then the second pair started dropping a hitch, dragging a bit, dropping the next hitch and so on until the net was all laid out, through the stickiest of the mud. That sure looked like a long net. So I decided to pace it to see if one was a long 25 fathom piece and one was a short one (in which case, we’d have to be sure to always fish them together to remain legal: 50 fathom). The first 25 fathom piece was 50 fathom. Uh oh, that means we would have been fishing 75 fathom, definitely illegal. As it was, since we weren’t in the water, it wasn’t illegal. So we just reversed the process and picked up the 25 fathom piece and then decided to move the 50 in so we could fish some of it on the gravel and sand, instead of fishing it all in the mud. Wise since we don’t have the skiffs yet.
Now for tomorrow, we hope to catch some dinner, we want to finish getting the boats ready, and we must sort through bags and bags of clothing looking for blankets. Paul comes in tomorrow night.
Liz
We went into town early (by the first mug-up, where the cannery provides us with snacks, like donuts and coffee) to try to get the boats ready. It’s an ordeal. It’s not as simple as plugs, outboards, anchors, bailers, fairleads, brailers, nets, tie-offs, extra gas, roller (still not here yet for the big boat), power pack… what else? We also have to make sure everything works. Power pack have clean oil and gas? Does it run? Need to find a hose so we can run water thru the outboard while we test that. Uh oh, where did we leave the battery for the outboard? And the motor mounts for the power pack are broken – luckily the port engineers at our cannery are not only creative and talented, they are good to us. We also ran around looking for stickers for the licenses for the skiffs ($65 in stickers from the hardware store!), our waders (first at Northland – yep, AGS did pick them up, then at the Baywatch plant as Big Brad had originally suggested – which is just where they were!), another cell phone – hoping the reception will be better. The GCI guys are supposed to be at the D&D restaurant on Mondays, except not today because they are in Dillingham. Sigh.
There was plenty we couldn’t do to finish the boats – too wet to paint; batteries not charged; the bow of the new boat hasn’t been blunted; the Ambi doesn’t have its roller. And they wouldn’t have dropped us in the water anyway because of the wind. I was straining to get home and grouchy.
Despite all that, we decided to put out the rest of the buoys tonight and get the net out. So we all geared up and traipsed (slogged is really the word for how we get through the mud), dragging the buoys (three per site), two anchors, one turning bar, the hardware, three anchor lines, the tools, and a rock because we can’t find the sledge hammer – it might have gone up in the fire. We paced off the distance between anchors that we could find to figure out where to look for the anchors we couldn’t find which is where we ended up placing the anchor we couldn’t find.
It’s a complicated process – we want to buoys attached to the anchor via an anchor line for the season. We must be able to remove it at the end of the season, but we don’t want it to come apart during the season. So we use healthy lines, smooth rings, shackles with wires through the eye and around the shaft. And the corkline of the net will attach to the ring that the buoy also attaches to.
We got it all paced off, the two new anchors down, the buoys attached. Several times I heard myself say, “This isn’t quite right, but we’ll fix it when we set the nets out here for the first time.” It’s a long way in to the beach to get whatever we forgot. And really, all we need is for the buoys to stay with the anchors until we get the nets on them. Which we won’t do until we have at least one boat we can use.
But we did put out the inside site. We got lucky on that one. We pulled both nets out of their bags, stacked them with the corks together near the line that runs from the buoy to the inside anchor (the running line) and the leads away from the running line. One pile of corks sure looked bigger than the other. Maybe the other was just spread out. So we piled the nets in our hands and started to walk out, dragging the bits of net between our handfuls behind us. We walked and dragged until it became taut and drop a hitch, walked a few more steps, dropped a hitch, and so on until the first pair (one on leads, one on corks) was empty-handed. Then the second pair started dropping a hitch, dragging a bit, dropping the next hitch and so on until the net was all laid out, through the stickiest of the mud. That sure looked like a long net. So I decided to pace it to see if one was a long 25 fathom piece and one was a short one (in which case, we’d have to be sure to always fish them together to remain legal: 50 fathom). The first 25 fathom piece was 50 fathom. Uh oh, that means we would have been fishing 75 fathom, definitely illegal. As it was, since we weren’t in the water, it wasn’t illegal. So we just reversed the process and picked up the 25 fathom piece and then decided to move the 50 in so we could fish some of it on the gravel and sand, instead of fishing it all in the mud. Wise since we don’t have the skiffs yet.
Now for tomorrow, we hope to catch some dinner, we want to finish getting the boats ready, and we must sort through bags and bags of clothing looking for blankets. Paul comes in tomorrow night.
Liz
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Pre-season June 13, Day 14
Birthday of two wonderful friends. One from Seattle, Michael Medina, and one from Naknek, Allen Tibbetts. Happy Birthday to you!
Not as much time for reflection with so many people here now. Cooking for this group is hard only because I can’t figure out how much to cook, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to believe it. I made a curry dish today with vegetables, chickpeas, and chicken. Josh had a serving bowl size serving. It was truly awe inspiring. And frightening. My fear is that there is no amount of food that is enough. And even though we seem to have an inexhaustible supply of food, it took four cups of rice just for the partial crew here now. Today, Chris and Bob (new guys 2 and 3) came in. Paul will be here on Tuesday and Trina and David will be in next week.
I called Northland Naknek today to try to track down the lost box of waders and heard this message. “You have reached Northland Services in Naknek. We cannot take your call at this time.” That was it.
We got the inside site ready today, but we’re not allowed to fish till tomorrow. We’ll put out that net then – fishing for dinner. And we’ll try to get the buoys out for the other nets, but we don’t want to get them out until we have skiffs to fish them with.
The crew did a great job of preparing the crew cabin, and (finally) insulating the bunkhouse. Tomorrow, getting the skiffs ready.
When Bob got in, he started in on the pump. It was next to, but upwind of, the warehouse as it burned last season. The belt was melted and it looks like a couple of other important things were melted along with it. But he tested it and the motor works. So we’ll get a belt and see if we (he) can get the pump part to work too. It will be great if we can get water to the edge of the cliff.
Internet access is extremely inconsistent. It goes in and out, and once it goes out, it seems to take something like 30 minutes to find itself again.
Josh moved over to the crew cabin today. It was sad – I like having my own space, but it was sad.
I realized that as the crew grows, the chaos of the living conditions will also grow. Even if some of these crew members are tidy, if any are not, that will be enough to make a mess. And a general guideline, like "pick up after yourself" doesn't really have much meaning with a group of people with varied habits and distributed responsibility. So I decided to try a new approach: divide up the categories of responsibilities and assign one person to be responsible for each. So Jake volunteered to be responsible for dishes, Jeff will be surfaces, Chris will be the supply guy (keep the Brita filled, the water hauled, the gas supplied, toilet paper in the outhouse, etc), Bob will be trucks - keeping the beds and the cabs emptied and ready, Paul will be the outside - keeping garbage moving to the dumpster, gathering up the debris that accumulates outside (like cardboard boxes and anything that leaves anyone's hand while they are outside - maintaining the clothesline and drainline will probably fall to him as well), and I'll ask Erik to take responsibility for the beach in front of the cabins. This will mean keeping the ropes straight (what do we have, where?), attending to things that get blown off the cliff, keeping the fish cleaning operation organized and clean, being aware of the tideline and which side of it our stuff is on. When Trina gets in, I think I'll ask her to help with cooking - there is a lot of chopping involved in this program.
Liz
Not as much time for reflection with so many people here now. Cooking for this group is hard only because I can’t figure out how much to cook, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to believe it. I made a curry dish today with vegetables, chickpeas, and chicken. Josh had a serving bowl size serving. It was truly awe inspiring. And frightening. My fear is that there is no amount of food that is enough. And even though we seem to have an inexhaustible supply of food, it took four cups of rice just for the partial crew here now. Today, Chris and Bob (new guys 2 and 3) came in. Paul will be here on Tuesday and Trina and David will be in next week.
I called Northland Naknek today to try to track down the lost box of waders and heard this message. “You have reached Northland Services in Naknek. We cannot take your call at this time.” That was it.
We got the inside site ready today, but we’re not allowed to fish till tomorrow. We’ll put out that net then – fishing for dinner. And we’ll try to get the buoys out for the other nets, but we don’t want to get them out until we have skiffs to fish them with.
The crew did a great job of preparing the crew cabin, and (finally) insulating the bunkhouse. Tomorrow, getting the skiffs ready.
When Bob got in, he started in on the pump. It was next to, but upwind of, the warehouse as it burned last season. The belt was melted and it looks like a couple of other important things were melted along with it. But he tested it and the motor works. So we’ll get a belt and see if we (he) can get the pump part to work too. It will be great if we can get water to the edge of the cliff.
Internet access is extremely inconsistent. It goes in and out, and once it goes out, it seems to take something like 30 minutes to find itself again.
Josh moved over to the crew cabin today. It was sad – I like having my own space, but it was sad.
I realized that as the crew grows, the chaos of the living conditions will also grow. Even if some of these crew members are tidy, if any are not, that will be enough to make a mess. And a general guideline, like "pick up after yourself" doesn't really have much meaning with a group of people with varied habits and distributed responsibility. So I decided to try a new approach: divide up the categories of responsibilities and assign one person to be responsible for each. So Jake volunteered to be responsible for dishes, Jeff will be surfaces, Chris will be the supply guy (keep the Brita filled, the water hauled, the gas supplied, toilet paper in the outhouse, etc), Bob will be trucks - keeping the beds and the cabs emptied and ready, Paul will be the outside - keeping garbage moving to the dumpster, gathering up the debris that accumulates outside (like cardboard boxes and anything that leaves anyone's hand while they are outside - maintaining the clothesline and drainline will probably fall to him as well), and I'll ask Erik to take responsibility for the beach in front of the cabins. This will mean keeping the ropes straight (what do we have, where?), attending to things that get blown off the cliff, keeping the fish cleaning operation organized and clean, being aware of the tideline and which side of it our stuff is on. When Trina gets in, I think I'll ask her to help with cooking - there is a lot of chopping involved in this program.
Liz
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