16x17 - Danger Close

[bunniefuu]

♪♪

Josh: one thing about
being lucky...

Sometimes it's really good,
sometimes it's really bad.

- Oh, [bleep]
- no power!

Where's our power?

[ Wave crashing ]

Now our good-luck streak
has ended, officially.

Man: whoo!

- Not what I was looking for.
- [Bleep] stupid.

Man: I have no idea
what we're doing here.

Josh: but my dad always
taught me, "stick and stay

And make it pay," you know?

Never give up.

It's about moving
and pushing forward.

And that's the biggest thing.

- Whoa!
- Aah!

- Man down!
- Oh, my god.

[ Rattling ] what's that?

What the [bleep] is going on?

- Heads up!
- Set it down, set it down!

Set it down! - Watch out!

So, [bleep] gives you lemons,
turn it into lemonade.

- Yeah!
- [ Laughs, claps ]

...just like
my old man would've.

[ Seagulls crying ]

♪♪

Narrator: 550 miles northwest
of dutch harbor,

On the 128-foot
cornelia marie...

Josh: good morning out there
to everybody.

Need to get all this
[bleep] packed on

As fast as we possibly can.

We got a delivery date
in three days.

See what happens here.

About to get the first one
in the block.

Narrator:
after tracking the crab

Into the bering sea's
upper latitudes...

Josh:
crab moves, so just staying
on top of the crab right now.

Just pray that it heats up.

We're down to like
200,000 pounds left to get.

Narrator: co-captains
josh harris and casey mcmanus

Bet the opilio biomass

Will continue
its northbound march,

Setting their entire
200-pot load

Ahead of the migrating school...

Please, lord, bless us
with some crab,

Safety for our crew.

Pray that we set it
in the right spot,

...all ahead of
a fast-approaching delivery date

In just 72 hours.

- Make me see a big fat pot.
- That would be amazing.

[ Crew shouts, cheers ]

- Whoo!
- Yeah!

- Dude.
- Wow!

Three-quarter-full pots. Yeah!

[ Laughs ]

- Yeah!
- Yeah!

Right on, dude!

Man: whoo!

- Oh, yeah!
- Cha-ching, cha-ching!

That's a beautiful sight
right now.

I think I just [bleep] my pants.

Man: yeah, baby!

Narrator:
they're set in the money.

Each pot brings josh and casey
700 pounds closer

To filling their tanks.

Wow, we're gonna need to set
that one back, for sure.

Oh, thank you, baby jesus!

Ready?

Going over!

Go! Whoo!

But in crab fishing...

[ Alarm sounds ]

...what the lord giveth,
the bering sea can taketh away.

What the [bleep] just happened?

We lost rpm.

♪♪

We need this so bad.

This sucks.

Narrator: without
the constant flow of diesel

To the portside main,

The $100,000 engine

Might as well be a boat anchor.

Casey: this could force us to go
back in to dutch harbor,

So hopefully, we can fix this
and move forward.

With any luck,
could be an easy fix.

Narrator: just 100 miles away...

...high up
on the russian line...

- Whoo!
- Yeah!

Narrator:...lurks the 148-foot
southern wind.

Nice, big, clean on the back.

No sorting.
All this can go in the tank.

I'll take it,
any day of the week.

While the crew is content
with a 200 average...

Get this over with.

In the wheelhouse...

Nothing very sexy
happening here.

...captain
steve "harley" davidson

Reveals an insatiable hunger
for more.

200S. I mean, it's not...

God. 200S?

They used to be disappointed
as hell at 200s.

Narrator: while a couple hundred
crab will fill the tank,

Harley will have to go through
a staggering 1,000 pots

To complete his quota.

Not what I was looking for.

Think I got to move
my gear, man.

Narrator: but if he can
double production,

He can cut his time at sea
in half,

Saving on fuel and expenses.

Huh.

Harley: I think we're gonna
head to the west.

♪♪

Man: I just don't know
if it's worth it.

Narrator: for the crew,

The safety of a bird in the hand

Trumps two in the bush.

[Bleep] stupid.

Harley: we're at the 11th hour.

It's time to frickin'
fill this boat up.

Narrator: but for the captain,
the temptation of fresh grounds

And bringing the misery
of the winter season to a close

Is just too great.

Harley: pervenets canyon.

I fished there 30 years ago.

That's hundreds of fathoms.

But here is fishable water,
the gullies.

The bottom changes,
and it's just gold.

Narrator: harley's plan...

Leave the consistent yet
mediocre numbers of the flats

For the canyon's deep troughs
out west,

Betting these depressions hold

More densely populated
pockets of crab,

All ripe for the taking.

There's nobody more frustrated
on this boat than me.

I'm frustrated,
they're frustrated,

But right now, I've got to go
pull something off.

Clear the point and go, man.

Narrator: 190 miles southeast...

Scott: 2 miles.

...on the 138-foot
lady alaska...

Man: we've been
striking out, dude.

Supposed to make 5 grand.

We've paid for like
five hours' worth of fuel.

Something's got to change
for us here.

I need a home run here.

With the amount of debt
that I'm in right now,

I've gambled everything
to get this boat,

And so far, we have not caught
any crab to speak of.

Narrator: for 13 years,
the lady alaska stood

Top of the heap,

Until a change in ownership
left her tied to the dock

Over a decade ago.

Scott: this is one of the best
sea boats in the fleet.

It's obviously
one of the biggest boats

In the fleet, as well.

Narrator:
now, after injecting over
$3 million dollars of capital,

Captain scott campbell jr.

Is determined to bring the lady
back to her former glory.

This thing is
a frickin' cadillac.

Might be a little bit
of a rundown cadillac,

But that's all cosmetic.
We can fix that.

The bones are good.

Narrator: now it's either
fill the tanks

Or risk losing the lady
for good.

Scott: I keep track of every
single trip that I do.

According to this right here,
you know,

Back when I was here in 2012
with a turtle head,

We had a 500 average.

Yeah, this is...
Should be a good spot.

Imagine a plateau,
and the plateau,

The turtle head,
is actually hard.

If you sat across the top
of the turtle head,

You're gonna pull blanks.

It's a mud shelf
all the way around it.

That'll give us some crab.

Okay, ready?

Man: yes!

Let 'er go.

- Roger!
- Roger!

Going over!

First pot! Here we go!

- Whoa!
- Whoo!

♪♪

- Let her go.
- Going over!

Scott: hopefully,
I can set right on them

And we'll get this thing
knocked out quick.

That could be the payday
that we need.

[ Crew shouting ]

♪♪

- Two-seven!
- Two-seven, roger.

[ Electricity zapping ]

- Crazy!
- Oh, [bleep]

- Oh, my god.
- Where's our power?

No power!

No power!

♪♪

Narrator: on the lady alaska...

- Two-seven!
- Two-seven, roger.

[ Electricity zapping ]

- Crazy!
- Oh, [bleep]

- Oh, my god.
- Where's our power?

No power!

[Bleep]

♪♪

[ Electricity zapping ]

I don't know what the hell's
going on here.

We just lost power.

What the [bleep] is going on?

Narrator: for the second time
this season...

Oh, boy, that's not good.

...the lady goes dark ship,

Relying on a backup generator
amid towering breakers.

This boat hasn't been working
since the derby days.

Seems like every time
you turn around,

Something's breaking down.

Scott: this sucks.

Getting down
to the little hot spot,

Can't even get the [bleep]
gear in the water.

Narrator: the lady alaska's
hydraulics are powered

By four electric turbines.

Without the hydros,
fishing is a no-go.

Here, jared, watch this.
Just let me know what it does.

I'm gonna bump it. - Okay.

We'll try it one more time.

Jared, is it doing anything?

No!

It fried it! It's smoking!

Shut it off.

We got to get this [bleep] boat
ready to [bleep] work.

This is bull[bleep]

[ Birds crying ]

Okay.

Hey, wait!

- What happened?
- Motor's shot.

- We just lost number three?
- Yeah.

Imagine that.

Lost three motors.

Narrator:
after starting his trip

With four healthy power sources,

Junior is now down to one.

We're here for one reason,

And that's to try
to make some money,

And if it's not happening,
you know...

So it's like, now this happens
and it's just like...

I don't know.

♪♪

We've got one motor left.

You have to have a minimum
of two motors out here.

We're just [bleep]

Absolutely [bleep]

Narrator:
while the lady alaska has
enough power to set her gear...

Well, the only thing we can do
is get this gear up.

- Roger!
- Ah, [bleep]

Narrator: ...hauling them
is another story.

Junior must fix or replace
the faulty parts,

Or his pots will stay
right where he sets them...

Let her go.

...on the ocean floor.

But we cannot afford
to go into town.

We're too far behind
the eight ball.

We've gotten our a*s kicked
everywhere we've turned around.

It's been a disaster.

So what we're gonna do is see
if I can call a boat in the area

That potentially would have one.

Wow.

There is a boat in the area.

The handler, he's just right
in front of us here.

[ Beeping ]

Got it on here, homey?

Yeah, I got it.

We've got a situation here.

Gonna need a little assistance.

Narrator: 165 miles northwest...

In the bowels
of the cornelia marie...

...a faulty fuel pump
fails to feed diesel

To the portside main engine.

...crippling josh
and casey's operation

And threatening their ability
to fill the boat

Before their looming offload.

Casey attempts an at-sea fix,

Hoping a new pressure valve
will bring them back online.

♪♪

So I checked everything,
pulled the pressure relief,

Put a new pressure relief in it,

And it's been holding
at 650 like it should,

So let's just put it in gear.

[ Whirring ]

I think...

[ Knocking ]

...we're back on business.

Casey really might have pulled
an elephant out of his hat.

[ Laughs ]

Now, see? Was that that bad?

Hey, pound it.
That was good stuff.

Yeah!

Alright, guys, it's coming up.

♪♪

Let's see if it did as well
as the first one.

- Yeah!
- Yeah!

- Yeah!
- Boom!

That's a lot of crab.

♪♪

This is fire, right here.

Four-one-five.

We're moving forward,
not going backward anymore.

That's pretty good fishing.

- [Bleep], hey.
- Hell yeah!

♪♪

[ Rattling ] what's that?

[ Rattling continues ]

That was the shaft
stopping real hard.

Is port main on now?

Yeah.

Feel that vibration?

I don't like that vibration.

We might have line
in the starboard prop.

♪♪

Should have been
clear of it, too.

Backing on it now
to see if I can

Put it against the line cutters.

♪♪

[ Clanking ]

What in the [bleep] is going on?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
on the cornelia marie...

...after repairing
their fuel pump,

Bad luck strikes again.

[ Rattling, beeping ]

What in the [bleep] is going on?

[Bleep] you.

♪♪

Frickin' port engine just
started acting up again.

It's not running right now.

With a pot line tangled
in the wheel

And their portside main
stalled...

When I hit neutral
to see if I could break it off,

I think the pressure spike
popped the pressure relief.

Co-captains josh harris
and casey mcmanus' operation

Sputters to a stop.

Blew the pressure relief valve.

'Cause he kicked it into high
gear as he ran over the bag.

Yeah, yeah, I'm on
the "what the [bleep]" part.

[ Clanking ]

Their fuel pump damaged
beyond repair,

The co-captains' chances
of filling their tanks

Before delivering

Fade into oblivion.

That port main's [bleep]
damn it.

We're running a twin-engine boat
around on one engine.

You become very unproductive
very quickly.

And it's dangerous...
If you lose the starboard one,

Then what? Then you're out here
with no power.

I won't put this boat
in that position, nor the crew.

So now we've got to go
to st. Paul and get it fixed.

It's gonna cost us
tens of thousands,

Not just a couple hundred bucks.

Everybody wants to be
a crab fisherman

And a boat owner.

It doesn't come easy.

135 Miles west...

♪♪

- It's cold, man.
- So cold!

But apparently,
there's crab here.

Narrator:
...on the southern wind...

- Whoa!
- I'm icing up, man!

Even I'm icing up!

I don't know if it's a ballsy
move or a stupid move.

It'll end soon, I hope.

[ Laughs ]

Narrator: pulling the
captain's card on his crew,

Perfectly willing to work
a 200 average...

I think we know
where their crab is.

If we can get 150, 200 in a pot

And just [bleep]

Yeah, they're getting
frustrated.

Narrator: ...skipper
steve "harley" davidson

Bets thousands of dollars
in fuel and supplies

On an old hot spot,
hoping this location

Will cut his remaining
time at sea in half.

Harley: we're way up here.

This is pervenets canyon,
and you are in no-man's land.

Okay, first one coming up here.

Going over!

Narrator: after steaming
50 miles further west...

Harley: we want to get up
and around these mountains,

See if we can find something
in this area here.

Going over!

Whoa!

Narrator: ...the veteran skipper
st*lks the crab

In the deep,
nutrient-rich gullies

Near the western expanse
of the russian border.

Harley: I find something,
I can spray it hard.

It's like flipping over rocks

And seeing if something
crawls out.

This flipping over rocks
is painful.

♪♪

Harley: [ sighing ] oh, yeah.

[Bleep]

Just always hairy.

Fighting these
extreme conditions.

The real deal, man.

This is definitely
a make-it-or-break-it day.

I need this to work.

Narrator: 175 miles southeast...

Scott: got to meet up
with the handler.

He's got some
vital parts for us.

He's just right
in front of us here.

Narrator:
...on the lady alaska...

Just got all our parts
that we need so that we can get

The hydraulic system
back up and running

And be able to haul the gear.

So this will be huge.

Narrator: after three of four
hydraulic turbines

Seize mid-operation,
captain scott campbell jr.

Steadies his hand
for a special delivery

125 Miles from the nearest port.

Yeah. Roger, roger. Sounds good.

Thank you.

Gonna do an at-sea transfer.

Basically, we're gonna get
both boats going

The same direction
at the same speed,

And we're gonna kind of be
doing a little bit of this.

And then he's gonna swing
a salt bag over with the parts

And all the other stuff that
we need, drop it on our deck,

And then he's gonna swing
his crane out of the way.

Gonna be sketchy.

Narrator: bucking
into a building sea...

[ Indistinct talking
over radio ]

Scott: roger.

Narrator: ...junior must
maintain a mere 20-foot range

To complete the transfer,

Risking a collision...

Or worse, a capsize.

- Okay, ready.
- Roger!

Ohh, baby.

Just got to act like
pulling up on a buoy.

Can't think about it
as two multimillion-dollar

Pieces of steel
that you could collide.

Make sure you don't get
in the [bleep] way.

Just pulling up on a buoy.
Just pulling up on a buoy.

I'm trying, I'm trying.

Oh, boy.

Don't get between it
and the rail.

- Whoa!
- Oh, my god. Oh, my god.

Be careful, guys!

Get ready to grab it here.

- Heads up!
- Whoa, watch out!

No, no. [Bleep]

Come on!

Man: get out of the way!

Set it down, set it down,
set it down, set it down!

♪♪

- Whoa!
- Oh, my god. Oh, my god.

Narrator: on the lady alaska...

Be careful, guys!

Get ready to grab it here.

- Heads up!
- Whoa! Watch out!

Scott: no, no. [Bleep]

Come on!

Get out of the way!

Set it down, set it down,
set it down, set it down!

Watch out!

♪♪

Okay, come on.

[ Laughing ] wow!

Narrator: after three damaged
motors shut down fishing...

Clear!

...captain scott campbell jr.

Engages in a harrowing
at-sea transfer

For crucial parts.

Scott: ah, thanks, bud.
Appreciate that.

Yeah, no problem.

Hopefully, that should
get you fixed up.

[ Chuckles ]
that's the main thing.

Good job! Thank you, guys!

Roger, roger. Sounds good.
Thank you.

Wow.

[ Laughing ] I'm not gonna lie,

That was a little sketchier
than I like.

Yeah, think I soiled my shorts
on that one.

[ Laughter ]

- Right here, buddy.
- Cool, alright.

Wade and james are gonna
put the part in,

And then we'll be back online.

Get this [bleep] in and done,
and we'll have four motors.

♪♪

This has been one of the most
trying seasons I've ever had

For breakdowns
and things going wrong.

♪♪

Scott: and now it's time
to start catching crab.

Don't even know what
they look like anymore.

Gonna fire up the block here.

This'll be the moment of truth.

[ Crew cheering ]

Oh, my god, everything works!

Such a beautiful thing!

Narrator: with his hydraulics
powered up,

The skipper can finally
take advantage

Of what the lady does best...

Haul crab.

We've got to catch
250,000 pounds.

And right now, we've got
3,200 pounds of it.

We got a ways to go.

Narrator: 125 miles southeast...

Josh: you know, going
into town, it sucked.

Narrator:
...on the cornelia marie...

Try to look on the bright side.

It's real crucial times,
you know.

...after an at-sea fix
failed to repair

A faulty $20,000 fuel pump,

Co-captains josh harris
and casey mcmanus

Face another $30,000
in unexpected costs.

Oh, yeah. See that?

That's definitely scored.

Now, with two days before
their scheduled offload...

So, this whole thing
is the fuel pump.

Without fuel pressure,
diesel engine won't run.

...the young skippers think
a dockside repair will get them

Back out to the grounds
and back into the game.

We'll get this all bolted up,
get fuel into it,

Fire it up, and see
if it runs properly.

You think that having
a top-notch boat

With all brand-new stuff,

Nothing can ever go wrong,
but that's not the case.

Lost a lot of fuel,
we lost a lot of time,

Lost a lot of money.

Hopefully we can knock this out,
start hauling some pots,

And get some poundage
on this boat.

Couple more hoses and
we're ready to test fire.

Narrator:
to speed up the process,

Casey engages
a local engine tech.

Right now, he's looking
into different spots

In the fuel system to see
if we have a blockage somewhere.

You want to fire it up?

♪♪

♪♪

I think we're good to go.

♪♪

Casey: port main's fixed up.

Got about seven hours
to our gear.

We're going fishing, baby!

Narrator: despite
constant breakdowns...

- We're going fishing!
- Whoo!

Narrator:...
Captains josh and casey

Push back against
the dark side of lady luck,

Hoping their return
to the grounds...

Big money numbers.

...will reveal the other side
of that fickle mistress.

Josh: the important part
is filling this boat up

As fast as possible.

Pray for us.

Narrator: 300 miles northwest...

...on the southern wind...

You know, these blue strings,
they're the ones I just laid.

Narrator: after abandoning
a modest average in the east,

Captain steve "harley" davidson
approaches pots

Set in a deep ravine
known as pervenets canyon.

Harley: I'm hoping
one of these strings

Shows me a good enough sign
where I can capitalize on it.

Coming up, munsey!

♪♪

Maybe steve sees the writing
on the wall.

I don't know.

Narrator: the season's
shot clock counting down,

The veteran needs 350s
to make the time sacrificed

Worth the time gained
with faster fishing.

Get this boat full
in a timely manner, and...

"Timely manner" is starting
to go frickin' out the window.

See if there's any hope.

If there isn't, we're back
to charts and darts.

Harley: okay, hook's going in,
gonna come up.

What's it gonna be?

Oh, my god.

Holy [bleep]!

They look cleaner.

They look good.

[ Chuckling ] oh, yeah!
That's a good one.

[ Laughs ]

Very thankful we came here

And very thankful the way
this is rolling right now.

Sweet!

Narrator: despite being
an unpopular decision,

After moving all 200 pots,
steaming 50 miles,

And spending
thousands of dollars in fuel,

Harley's gamble pays off.

Harley: that's a nice pot.

This could turn out really good.

Yeah, baby!

♪♪

We could live on this.

[ Line snaps ]

- Aaah!
- Oh, my god.

Harley: what's going on?!

Narrator: this week
on "salty takes"...

Tyler's a little bit stressed
out about too much bait on deck,

And he's got nowhere
to put anything.

The only thing tougher
than being a bait boy...

Hey, we're gonna just grab
the cod pots next.

They'll probably be loaded.
- Wait, really?

Narrator: ...is getting baited
by the boys in the wheelhouse.

Aw, dude! I don't know where
to put any [bleep] right now!

The handler cod gear is right
here, too, and they're done,

So I think we're gonna roll
through their stuff, too.

What?!

[ Groans ] [bleep]

[ Laughs ]

That guy is having
a bad day now.

Man! I got to take
something out!

[ Laughing ]

[ Shouting ]

Hey, tyler, you know we're just
[bleep] with you, right?

No, you're doing good, man.

[ Laughter ]

Yeah, they got me good.
They got me really good.

Josh and casey...

Two genuine master baiters.

Can I say that?

You knew that was coming.

Narrator:
on the southern wind...

♪♪

[ Line snaps ]

- Aah!
- Oh, my god.

Harley: what's going on?!

- Man down!
- Ugh!

♪♪

Ay, ay, ay. [Bleep]

A line just whacked danny
in the head.

He's hurt.

Narrator: after landing
on a tank-stuffing 350 average,

Captain harley's success
turns bittersweet

When his deck boss,
danny staat...

[ Line snaps ] aah!

Narrator: ...takes a lashing
across the forehead.

Yeah.

Let's take your gear off
and put some ice on you

For a little bit,
let you sit down.

Narrator: with the jarring
blow to the head

Already manifesting symptoms,

The captain makes the safe call
to go short-handed.

Eeeeh!

Ow!

♪♪

I'm trying to get
the most volume,

The most bang for our buck here.

- Yeah!
- Yeah! Whoo!

Danny's... Danny will be fine.

Get these six tanks done,
and we're out of here.

Narrator: 135 miles northeast,

On the cornelia marie...

Josh: now we're stable and sound

And we're ready
to knock her out.

Narrator: after a 24-hour delay
costing over $50,000...

Should see something
that we like.

Hopefully.

All we can do is just
keep doing our best,

Try to get this crab on the boat
as fast as we can.

Narrator: co-captains
josh and casey idle up to pots

Left soaking a day ago,
hoping the crab are still there.

Man: look out!

Main sounds like it's running
again, been running good

On the way out here.
So, really hoping

That there's something
in this pots.

All this pain and agony
better pay off to something,

Or we're really gonna be
in a world of hurt.

Let's do it, boys!

- Yeah! Come on, baby!
- Whoo!

♪♪

There it is.

- Yeah!
- Alright! There we go!

Good start.

There's some [bleep] meat.

♪♪

- Wow.
- Yeah.

[ Laughing ]

Nice, clean white-belly crab.

♪♪

Everything happens for a reason.

♪♪

We've had a couple
really good seasons.

This one's been a little bit
more trying than usual.

Everybody's having
a terrible run of luck.

[ Crew cheering ]

- Look at these monsters!
- Whoa!

And we can go home
because of these guys.

- Whoo!
- We did the right thing here.

I've made good decisions before.

My crew knows that. [ Laughs ]

Josh: but the bering sea
fishing industry,

You know, you make a decision,
you stick with it.

Harley: coming up!

Well, these electric motors
going down cost me 15 grand.

It will relieve so much pressure

To see some crab in my pots.

Josh: everyone is out there
working so hard,

And you do the best job you can.

[ Crew cheering ]

[ Laughs ]

That's how you make money.

Josh: took a page out
out of my old man's book.

There's people
that watch things happen,

There's people
that make things happen,

And there's people that wonder
what the [bleep] just happened.

And he told me,
"don't be number three."

It's a beautiful thing.

Use that harris luck, and...

Whammo!

Never give up.

Figure it out.

To make this successful.

[ Cheers, laughter ]