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#31
TSBB General Talk / Re: Camille -57 years ago
Last post by Frank B. - Aug 18, 2026, 02:28 PMI remember it well. It happened on a Sunday and I was finishing up a Marine Corp drill. They were going to let us go early to take care of our families as soon as they got enough Amphibious tractor crews to run search and rescue all night during the storm. My MOS was not a crew member slot but they would press us into service if necessary. They finally let us go early afternoon. Those crews that stayed were heroes for sure.
I lived about a quarter mile from the beach on a street near the Edgewater Hotel and the street was dead end to the north, the only way out was highway 90. An upstairs apartment in an old brick house, just married about six months earlier, we didn't have a lot of stuff to lose, but knew we needed to get out of there. Our landlords who lived downstairs were an old couple and the husband had just had surgery for a brain tumor and they had no place to go. So we gathered them up and took them with us to my inlaws place in Bayou View, about two miles from the beach. I remember the noise for sure, when it came through it sounded like a freight train coming through the den. I watched the den sliding glass door actually bend noticeably. The eye passed just before daylight then all that water that had been pushed up in the back bay and bayous came out much faster than it came in so we watched the water rise and come into the house without knowing how much of a flood it would be. Thankfully it stopped at two feet and then receded at about the same rate as it entered. I remember spending the rest of that day pulling up all the carpet in the house and pushing it out of the windows. The damage was extensive, a war zone as far as we could see.
It took better than a week to get back to our place and then it was drive most of the way and then hike the last mile or so. Highway 90 had not been passable at all until then. Ironically while the bottom floor had some flood damage, the three apartments on the top had zero damage.
All kinds of memories one in particular was standing in the line down town Gulfport at the ice house when it felt like 120F and wondering if I was lucky enough to get a block before they ran out, could I even get it home.
I was a welder at a company that made offshore oil and gas well head production equipment, going to night school to finish a degree. Hourly worker, no pay if your not working, didn't know when they would call us back so my friend Dan Cooper and I started going around cutting trees of houses to make money. I remember one lady chastised us for asking for money for the service, and Dan just looked at her and asked where her husband was. She said at work, then Dan very calmly said that's very nice but we are out of work. On a Sunday one lady said we shouldn't be doing this on Sunday. Dan very calmly replied that the Good Lord saw fit to let this storm hit us on a Sunday, guess it would be alright to clean up after it on a Sunday.
In a two weeks the Company I worked for let it be known that if you could come to work to do repair on the building come on. I, and about 12 of the 250 who worked there did that for a week to get the plant ready to open. Then they decided to pay everyone for the full down time and we were paid twice for showing up.
I've been through a number of Hurricanes mostly with neutral impact to my life. Camille was actually positive. Because they considered our Marine Corp unit to be hardship status they did not call us up for active duty as they had told us to prepare for, and since this was the Viet Nam era that was good. Additionally, my FIL was in the construction equipment sale and rental business and things were not going all that well. He credits the Camille rebuild and the Stennis Space center construction as what kept them afloat.
I lived about a quarter mile from the beach on a street near the Edgewater Hotel and the street was dead end to the north, the only way out was highway 90. An upstairs apartment in an old brick house, just married about six months earlier, we didn't have a lot of stuff to lose, but knew we needed to get out of there. Our landlords who lived downstairs were an old couple and the husband had just had surgery for a brain tumor and they had no place to go. So we gathered them up and took them with us to my inlaws place in Bayou View, about two miles from the beach. I remember the noise for sure, when it came through it sounded like a freight train coming through the den. I watched the den sliding glass door actually bend noticeably. The eye passed just before daylight then all that water that had been pushed up in the back bay and bayous came out much faster than it came in so we watched the water rise and come into the house without knowing how much of a flood it would be. Thankfully it stopped at two feet and then receded at about the same rate as it entered. I remember spending the rest of that day pulling up all the carpet in the house and pushing it out of the windows. The damage was extensive, a war zone as far as we could see.
It took better than a week to get back to our place and then it was drive most of the way and then hike the last mile or so. Highway 90 had not been passable at all until then. Ironically while the bottom floor had some flood damage, the three apartments on the top had zero damage.
All kinds of memories one in particular was standing in the line down town Gulfport at the ice house when it felt like 120F and wondering if I was lucky enough to get a block before they ran out, could I even get it home.
I was a welder at a company that made offshore oil and gas well head production equipment, going to night school to finish a degree. Hourly worker, no pay if your not working, didn't know when they would call us back so my friend Dan Cooper and I started going around cutting trees of houses to make money. I remember one lady chastised us for asking for money for the service, and Dan just looked at her and asked where her husband was. She said at work, then Dan very calmly said that's very nice but we are out of work. On a Sunday one lady said we shouldn't be doing this on Sunday. Dan very calmly replied that the Good Lord saw fit to let this storm hit us on a Sunday, guess it would be alright to clean up after it on a Sunday.
In a two weeks the Company I worked for let it be known that if you could come to work to do repair on the building come on. I, and about 12 of the 250 who worked there did that for a week to get the plant ready to open. Then they decided to pay everyone for the full down time and we were paid twice for showing up.
I've been through a number of Hurricanes mostly with neutral impact to my life. Camille was actually positive. Because they considered our Marine Corp unit to be hardship status they did not call us up for active duty as they had told us to prepare for, and since this was the Viet Nam era that was good. Additionally, my FIL was in the construction equipment sale and rental business and things were not going all that well. He credits the Camille rebuild and the Stennis Space center construction as what kept them afloat.
#32
TSBB General Talk / Re: Camille -57 years ago
Last post by Captain Kidd - Aug 18, 2026, 01:16 PMThree hurricanes have affected my life directly. Camille would be the first. I'm from VA. My grandparents and other relatives lived in Nelson County. After hitting the gulf states it crossed the Blue Ridge Mts and hit Nelson County with an enormous amount of rain. Estimates range from 2' up to maybe 3.5'. Well over 100 people died in that county. We weren't able to get there for several days. My grandparents lived about 10 miles from the hardest hit part of the county. I remember as a 13 year old boy going up several weeks later and driving through Lovingston. Mountainsides laid bare of trees, huge boulders washed down into town, bridges out, cars buried in mud, refrigeration trailer with bodies. Joey Davis wrote a song about it called The Bypass referring to the Rt 29 bypass around Lovingston which was used as a landing zone for rescue recovery efforts. Some of my uncles and relatives were involved in the aftermath.
The second was Agnes which hit VA in 1972. It was a rain event. I was playing football for John F. Kennedy HS at the time. One of our players lost his dad in the flooding. He worked on an island in the middle of the James River which flooded. Apparently they tried to go back to work before the flood waters were down enough and he was swept off a boat and drowned. The whole team went to the funeral.
The third was Floyd in 1999. We were living in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Tropical storm Dennis had already dumped a lot of rain due to the fact the it essentially hit eastern NC twice. If you look at the track, it passed close, went out to sea, and doubled back for its landfall. Shortly thereafter Floyd, a category 4 hurricane, hit with his fury. We had many in our church who spent the night in the church. The winds blew 70 mph all night. It blew the rain through our church walls. We had two giant oak trees in the church yard that were blown over. Fortunately they fell in the street. At our house, we lost numerous large trees. We heard them coming down throughout the storm. One fell close enough to lay its uppermost branches on our picnic table with no damage. It was almost impossible to get around town with all the downed trees. In the weeks following, I remember driving around, particularly taking a few trips to Greenville for hospital visits. IIRC 60% of Pitt County was under water! Driving through there was one of the most pitiful things you'd ever see. In front of almost every house was a pile of debris: carpet, insulation, furniture, ductwork, you name it. Sad, sad, sad. The little town of Princeville was totally submerged.
I guess I could add a fourth. My daughter was at Pensacola Christian College in 2004 when Ivan delivered a direct hit on that city. The college assured us they could handle a storm. Well, they lost water and power. She lived on the 9th floor. No working toilets and no elevators. No one hurt, but it was miserable.
Without a doubt, wind and water can do a lot of damage!!!!!
The second was Agnes which hit VA in 1972. It was a rain event. I was playing football for John F. Kennedy HS at the time. One of our players lost his dad in the flooding. He worked on an island in the middle of the James River which flooded. Apparently they tried to go back to work before the flood waters were down enough and he was swept off a boat and drowned. The whole team went to the funeral.
The third was Floyd in 1999. We were living in Roanoke Rapids, NC. Tropical storm Dennis had already dumped a lot of rain due to the fact the it essentially hit eastern NC twice. If you look at the track, it passed close, went out to sea, and doubled back for its landfall. Shortly thereafter Floyd, a category 4 hurricane, hit with his fury. We had many in our church who spent the night in the church. The winds blew 70 mph all night. It blew the rain through our church walls. We had two giant oak trees in the church yard that were blown over. Fortunately they fell in the street. At our house, we lost numerous large trees. We heard them coming down throughout the storm. One fell close enough to lay its uppermost branches on our picnic table with no damage. It was almost impossible to get around town with all the downed trees. In the weeks following, I remember driving around, particularly taking a few trips to Greenville for hospital visits. IIRC 60% of Pitt County was under water! Driving through there was one of the most pitiful things you'd ever see. In front of almost every house was a pile of debris: carpet, insulation, furniture, ductwork, you name it. Sad, sad, sad. The little town of Princeville was totally submerged.
I guess I could add a fourth. My daughter was at Pensacola Christian College in 2004 when Ivan delivered a direct hit on that city. The college assured us they could handle a storm. Well, they lost water and power. She lived on the 9th floor. No working toilets and no elevators. No one hurt, but it was miserable.
Without a doubt, wind and water can do a lot of damage!!!!!
#33
TSBB General Talk / Re: Camille -57 years ago
Last post by Doug SC - Aug 18, 2026, 12:55 PMMy dad was 3 years old living in Miami when the hurricane of 1926 came ashore. One hundred years ago this fall before they had names No one knew a hurricane was coming until the day before as offshore ships radioed in about the storm. His father came back home and told them what was happening. that night the house next door was blown into their house. My grandmother was pregnant as they waded through knee high water to the only block house on the street. Every family on their block was there except for one which drowned inside their house. The next morning, they went home. The garage roof had collapsed on their Model A Ford and most of the steering wheel was missing. His dad managed to clear the debris from the car and returned the house keys to the man he bought it from. He said it was his now. They drove to Orlando to stay with one of his dad's bothers and find work.
My Dad never did like a storm, and he taught me how to use a tracking map when I was just a boy. We had metal hurricane shutters on all the windows on the cider block house we lived in Rivera Beach. FL. In the fall of 1960, I remember playing in the flooded street and yard with minnows swimming at our feet in the aftermath of hurricane Donna after the storm. Our house didn't have any damage. Dad passed away last October 2025 a week shy of 102.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_Miami_hurricane
My Dad never did like a storm, and he taught me how to use a tracking map when I was just a boy. We had metal hurricane shutters on all the windows on the cider block house we lived in Rivera Beach. FL. In the fall of 1960, I remember playing in the flooded street and yard with minnows swimming at our feet in the aftermath of hurricane Donna after the storm. Our house didn't have any damage. Dad passed away last October 2025 a week shy of 102.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1926_Miami_hurricane
#34
TSBB General Talk / Re: Camille -57 years ago
Last post by Brian N. - Aug 18, 2026, 11:53 AMGrowing up I lived in Rockaway Beach NY (which is in Queens, a borough of NYC). We lived on beach 48 street, about equally distant (3 city blocks) between Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic ocean. I remember several storms which covered our block in water when the ocean met the bay. Brought in sand, debris and transformed empty sandlots into temporary ponds. We would spend hours catching little fish left in those ponds. We moved further out east on Long Island when I was 15. Many years later Hurricane Sandy destroyed our house. A few years after Sandy I drove by, sad to see our home was now another sandlot.
I remember one storm that flooded the block so badly that a friend of mine came by in a little skiff (he lived on Bay 45th st). Naturally we went fishing.
I remember one storm that flooded the block so badly that a friend of mine came by in a little skiff (he lived on Bay 45th st). Naturally we went fishing.
#35
TSBB General Talk / Camille -57 years ago
Last post by Riley Smith - Aug 18, 2026, 09:29 AM...Hurricane Camille was on the way out of our lives. Headed to WV where she would kill additional people. All the people that went through that one still mark it on the calendar. We were lucky in that it didn't affect our lives much beyond the typical no power, no gasoline, no ice type of thing. If you aren't familiar with the hurricane drill be thankful.
I don't remember much before it hit because I didn't care about hurricanes during that teenage timeline. There were plenty of OTHER things that got my attention. Now, you must understand about my mother. When I was small and a thunderstorm would come along, she'd get frantic. And later in life I more or less understood. She was from upstate and thunder and lightning up THERE meant severe weather was likely. As in tornadoes. It took many years of her living on the coast to realize that a lightning storm was just par for the course in the summer. And a real live tornado is very rare in this belt along the coast. Yeah, once in a while a water spout would come ashore and tear off a roof or knock down a couple of pine trees. Very isolated and almost never catastrophic. Later in life I got to see what a REAL tornado would do, and that's when I began to understand her fear.
I suppose it was the media coverage that made us run. But then again, we'd run before because of said fear my Mom had. And we lived within a half mile or so of the beachfront. All I remember was that her and Pop talked it over with the constant updates from the weatherman coming in, and they decided almost too late to run. Running meant going north for almost everybody and we'd usually head upstate to stay with relatives. I suppose that was the plan but I also know and understand plans, and they are usually only viable for the opening acts of a situation. This one was no different.
The weather accuracy was much less back then. Better than a few years before, but still not up to today's standards. You couldn't pull up GOES East and have a look yourself because that was still 25 years in the future. There was a tracking map ( Even the grocery stores gave them away) and everyone plotted fixes...lat and lon. And this one was the Real Thing, not a big thunderstorm. So her and Pop loaded us in the car and headed north.
Back then, the highways were as different from today as night and day. Two laned and narrow. Counter flow wasn't even dreamed of yet. The interstate was years in the future. You had to go through DOWNTOWN Moss Point and cross a very low causeway to get across the river. There were thousands of OTHER people that got scared away too. It was VERY SLOW. We crossed the river as the water was lapping at the pavement on the causeway. (Tidal Surge). And then it seemed like forever before we got clear of the coastal county.
By that time the first winds had arrived and my parents knew they weren't going to be able to make it upstate. Pop was having trouble keeping the car in the right lane in the wind. That brought on a crisis because we had nowhere to go. As we came into Barton ( a small community north of us), the lights were on and people present at Barton Baptist Church and we pulled in and asked if we could shelter there. And of course, those people were as accommodating as you would expect. Many of their congregation lived in house trailers and were present themselves.
And so we spent the night there, hunkered down among the pews and praying. I got a little concerned when they moved everyone out of one of the northern rooms because the walls were flexing. And I got a LOT concerned listening to the wind. I can describe but you'll hardly believe it. It sounded like... a freight train coming through the room, a thousand wailing banshees, a terror in the night. It would blow so hard you'd think it couldn't POSSIBLY blow any harder, and then a gust would hit and it would blow TWICE that hard. The church shuddered all night long. Thank God, I've never heard the like since. Nobody slept until it finally started abating some.
We emerged from the church the next morning to go home. Radio reports were talking catastrophic damage. There was a big pecan orchard behind the church and every single tree was on the ground. The wind speed was never known because it blew the instruments away. It was widely believed to be 200 mph at the worst. And people were already streaming back toward the coast to see if they had anything left.
So we joined the long, slow, caravan and made it back to the bridge I had previously mentioned. The HWP was there letting one car at a time across. And they closed it due to rising tide before we could get across. We were the next vehicle and must have spent two hours or more waiting our turn. That meant detouring through Alabama and coming in from the east. We spent ALL DAY LONG in the car trying to get home on a journey that today you can complete in under 30 minutes. And when we finally did manage to pull up to the house, not a shingle was out of place!!!
My brother took a quick tour (he had a car and could drive) and came back and said, "we all ought to get down on our knees and give thanks that we are still alive".
That's pretty much all I remember from a very long time ago. But I still remember the sound of that wind. I'll never forget that. Each storm is different and presents different problems. Katrina had a wall of water come ashore and thankfully came ashore in daylight. One of the only storms in my memory to do so and that fact alone probably saved many lives. Georges had tornadoes all night long. I wasn't here for Fredric and that was the most homesick I've ever been. Elana ran everyone on the Gulf Coast to and fro. I've heard that wind blow several times since, and it has never touched Camille's winds. Not even close.
I don't remember much before it hit because I didn't care about hurricanes during that teenage timeline. There were plenty of OTHER things that got my attention. Now, you must understand about my mother. When I was small and a thunderstorm would come along, she'd get frantic. And later in life I more or less understood. She was from upstate and thunder and lightning up THERE meant severe weather was likely. As in tornadoes. It took many years of her living on the coast to realize that a lightning storm was just par for the course in the summer. And a real live tornado is very rare in this belt along the coast. Yeah, once in a while a water spout would come ashore and tear off a roof or knock down a couple of pine trees. Very isolated and almost never catastrophic. Later in life I got to see what a REAL tornado would do, and that's when I began to understand her fear.
I suppose it was the media coverage that made us run. But then again, we'd run before because of said fear my Mom had. And we lived within a half mile or so of the beachfront. All I remember was that her and Pop talked it over with the constant updates from the weatherman coming in, and they decided almost too late to run. Running meant going north for almost everybody and we'd usually head upstate to stay with relatives. I suppose that was the plan but I also know and understand plans, and they are usually only viable for the opening acts of a situation. This one was no different.
The weather accuracy was much less back then. Better than a few years before, but still not up to today's standards. You couldn't pull up GOES East and have a look yourself because that was still 25 years in the future. There was a tracking map ( Even the grocery stores gave them away) and everyone plotted fixes...lat and lon. And this one was the Real Thing, not a big thunderstorm. So her and Pop loaded us in the car and headed north.
Back then, the highways were as different from today as night and day. Two laned and narrow. Counter flow wasn't even dreamed of yet. The interstate was years in the future. You had to go through DOWNTOWN Moss Point and cross a very low causeway to get across the river. There were thousands of OTHER people that got scared away too. It was VERY SLOW. We crossed the river as the water was lapping at the pavement on the causeway. (Tidal Surge). And then it seemed like forever before we got clear of the coastal county.
By that time the first winds had arrived and my parents knew they weren't going to be able to make it upstate. Pop was having trouble keeping the car in the right lane in the wind. That brought on a crisis because we had nowhere to go. As we came into Barton ( a small community north of us), the lights were on and people present at Barton Baptist Church and we pulled in and asked if we could shelter there. And of course, those people were as accommodating as you would expect. Many of their congregation lived in house trailers and were present themselves.
And so we spent the night there, hunkered down among the pews and praying. I got a little concerned when they moved everyone out of one of the northern rooms because the walls were flexing. And I got a LOT concerned listening to the wind. I can describe but you'll hardly believe it. It sounded like... a freight train coming through the room, a thousand wailing banshees, a terror in the night. It would blow so hard you'd think it couldn't POSSIBLY blow any harder, and then a gust would hit and it would blow TWICE that hard. The church shuddered all night long. Thank God, I've never heard the like since. Nobody slept until it finally started abating some.
We emerged from the church the next morning to go home. Radio reports were talking catastrophic damage. There was a big pecan orchard behind the church and every single tree was on the ground. The wind speed was never known because it blew the instruments away. It was widely believed to be 200 mph at the worst. And people were already streaming back toward the coast to see if they had anything left.
So we joined the long, slow, caravan and made it back to the bridge I had previously mentioned. The HWP was there letting one car at a time across. And they closed it due to rising tide before we could get across. We were the next vehicle and must have spent two hours or more waiting our turn. That meant detouring through Alabama and coming in from the east. We spent ALL DAY LONG in the car trying to get home on a journey that today you can complete in under 30 minutes. And when we finally did manage to pull up to the house, not a shingle was out of place!!!
My brother took a quick tour (he had a car and could drive) and came back and said, "we all ought to get down on our knees and give thanks that we are still alive".
That's pretty much all I remember from a very long time ago. But I still remember the sound of that wind. I'll never forget that. Each storm is different and presents different problems. Katrina had a wall of water come ashore and thankfully came ashore in daylight. One of the only storms in my memory to do so and that fact alone probably saved many lives. Georges had tornadoes all night long. I wasn't here for Fredric and that was the most homesick I've ever been. Elana ran everyone on the Gulf Coast to and fro. I've heard that wind blow several times since, and it has never touched Camille's winds. Not even close.
#36
TSBB General Talk / Re: Cleaning Products for Fibe...
Last post by Brian N. - Aug 17, 2026, 11:02 PMI'm not a cleaning expert, but some general principles do apply: Grime and grease are tackled with detergents (dishwashing liquids such as Dawn). Non-scratch powders are great for hard surfaces with stuff that does not come off with detergents. Pads like Mr. Clean Magic Eraser work very well on scuff marks but are aggressive. Non scratch liquids work well on fiberglass and hard surfaces but again are aggressive and should be tested. Oxidizing cleaners are great for fabrics, molds and stains and don't leave a chlorine smell. A paste made with borax does the same, but must be rinsed. NEVER use soap. Porous surfaces such as untreated wood are tough. Damp rag with Dawn, wipe dry then spray with Lysol to prevent mold.
You can visit the cleaning product isle at Lowes, Home Depot, WM or even your local supermarket, but you can drive yourself nuts going through a thousand products. Hope this was useful.
Quick Edit: Most of the "Magic" cleaning sprays sold on TV, QVC, Amazon or off the retail shelf are either detergents or oxi cleaners. Also be careful with vinegar solutions (unless you like your boat to smell like salad dressing) and alcohol based cleaners are powerful solvents and may not be compatible, with all surfaces. Same with acetone. I would avoid chlorine based products, unless your goal is to sanitize. And, Oxygenating products also sanitize well.
You can visit the cleaning product isle at Lowes, Home Depot, WM or even your local supermarket, but you can drive yourself nuts going through a thousand products. Hope this was useful.
Quick Edit: Most of the "Magic" cleaning sprays sold on TV, QVC, Amazon or off the retail shelf are either detergents or oxi cleaners. Also be careful with vinegar solutions (unless you like your boat to smell like salad dressing) and alcohol based cleaners are powerful solvents and may not be compatible, with all surfaces. Same with acetone. I would avoid chlorine based products, unless your goal is to sanitize. And, Oxygenating products also sanitize well.
#37
TSBB General Talk / Cleaning Products for Fibergla...
Last post by Spot - Aug 17, 2026, 06:15 PMGetting ready to sail and liveaboard for a week. Boat has not been cleaned inside for years during the de- and re- construction phases and outside since last year.
Outside gel coat usually just needs dish soap and water and a sponge. Inside is painted wood, painted fiberglass, and the seedy polyester resin and plywood underpinnings of a 1970s kit boat.
What's best for the inside? Someone cleaned the scuffs off my epoxy table with something Clorox-y today. I think something a little stronger than dish soap may be in order.
Appreciate people's ideas on the subject!
Outside gel coat usually just needs dish soap and water and a sponge. Inside is painted wood, painted fiberglass, and the seedy polyester resin and plywood underpinnings of a 1970s kit boat.
What's best for the inside? Someone cleaned the scuffs off my epoxy table with something Clorox-y today. I think something a little stronger than dish soap may be in order.
Appreciate people's ideas on the subject!
#38
TSBB General Talk / Re: Vibrio Vulnificus
Last post by Doug SC - Aug 17, 2026, 12:44 PMA good band aid is always appropriate.
#39
TSBB General Talk / Re: Vibrio Vulnificus
Last post by Riley Smith - Aug 17, 2026, 10:46 AMThanks Doug, all that good information. No, make that great information. The Hibiclens would seem to cover the advice that keeping wounds covered is best, too. I am preferential to certain industrial strength band aids for most of that but will check out Hibiclens. Although, I can't ever remember having covered an insect bite. Oh well, still great info and you make your choices and ante the bet. As far as ghardia, trust me, I came close with that one. Worst I've ever felt in my life because I got really weak from the bug stealing all my nutrition. And dehydrated to boot. I was beginning to believe that dying would be better when I got the SECONDARY opportunistic strep. We made a drastic change of venue to get someone that knew something about parasitic infections luckily, and were successful. I say we because most of the time I wasn't even capable. And which underscored my disdain for certain professionals I had more or less trusted with my life. Food for thought, all of it.
#40
Tales and Trip Reports / Re: More Lobster Stories . . ....
Last post by pgandw - Aug 16, 2026, 10:06 PMNot lobster, but 2 crab stories from my time in Juneau, Alaska.
1. Not me, but a friend caught a crab thief pulling his pots. Brought him to the boat launch at gun point, had him pull his aluminum boat out of the water. Friend pulled out a can of florescent orange spray paint and sprayed "Crab Pot Thief" in nice big letters on both sides of the thief's boat. I saw the newly named boat as it left the launch ramp in shame. Alaska Fisheries didn't interfere, as they felt justice had been done.
2. A different friend asked me to help him pull his crab pots after work in late October. It gets dark and cold early and fast in Juneau that time of year. He didn't tell me until after we left the dock in his 17ft aluminum skiff that we were pulling king crab pots. King crab lives down around 200ft, so pots have to be weighted and lead-lined rope used to place and pull the pots. He had a lawn mower engine mounted on the starboard gunwhale that he used as a winch to pull the pots up. It was dusk and lightly snowing when we got to the pots - I was pretty miserable. That lawn mower engine was straining, and the gunwhale was being pulled down 6in by the weight of each pot.
In his 5 pots were 6 king crabs. Alaska requires you keep the crabs alive to the dock so Fisheries can check them. Where do 6 live king crabs go in a 17ft skiff? Right on the floorboards, of course. Luckily, king crabs move very slowly when near the surface. So in addition to tending 240ft of pot line, I had to watch the moving crab claws to make sure they weren't getting too near my feet and/or ankles. Each crab had a span of about 5-7 ft and weighed 10-12 lbs, so they occupied most of the floorboards.
He rewarded me for my help with 3 of the crabs. They were delicious, and made up for the snow, cold, dark, and claw dodging.
Fred W
1. Not me, but a friend caught a crab thief pulling his pots. Brought him to the boat launch at gun point, had him pull his aluminum boat out of the water. Friend pulled out a can of florescent orange spray paint and sprayed "Crab Pot Thief" in nice big letters on both sides of the thief's boat. I saw the newly named boat as it left the launch ramp in shame. Alaska Fisheries didn't interfere, as they felt justice had been done.
2. A different friend asked me to help him pull his crab pots after work in late October. It gets dark and cold early and fast in Juneau that time of year. He didn't tell me until after we left the dock in his 17ft aluminum skiff that we were pulling king crab pots. King crab lives down around 200ft, so pots have to be weighted and lead-lined rope used to place and pull the pots. He had a lawn mower engine mounted on the starboard gunwhale that he used as a winch to pull the pots up. It was dusk and lightly snowing when we got to the pots - I was pretty miserable. That lawn mower engine was straining, and the gunwhale was being pulled down 6in by the weight of each pot.
In his 5 pots were 6 king crabs. Alaska requires you keep the crabs alive to the dock so Fisheries can check them. Where do 6 live king crabs go in a 17ft skiff? Right on the floorboards, of course. Luckily, king crabs move very slowly when near the surface. So in addition to tending 240ft of pot line, I had to watch the moving crab claws to make sure they weren't getting too near my feet and/or ankles. Each crab had a span of about 5-7 ft and weighed 10-12 lbs, so they occupied most of the floorboards.
He rewarded me for my help with 3 of the crabs. They were delicious, and made up for the snow, cold, dark, and claw dodging.
Fred W