21x15 - Beyond the Breaking Point

[bunniefuu]

[Sig] OK, guys.

-[deckhand] Clear.
-[Sig] For us?

[deckhand] Yep.

[Sig] This here?

We haven't gone through this
kind of a scenario before.

-It was quite the experience.
-[deckhand] Are you good?

[Sig] For the first time
in 30 years,

the crab drew us west.

You scared?

[Jonathan]
Near Hillstrand today.

-[laughing]
-Uhn!

[Sig] We went
to uncharted grounds.

[Jonathan] Watch out!

Get the [bleep] away
from that rail.

[Jake speaking]

[Sig]
Put the [bleep] camera down!

Agh!

And we paid the price
in blood...

[groans] -- [bleep].

[Sig] ...and tears.

-[unintelligible]
-Jake, stop, stop, stop.

[Sig] But the worst...

Oh!

Hang on!
[bleep]!

[deckhand]
No, no, no, no, no, no!

[Sig] ...is yet to come.

I want to get out there now.

The cannery has
their doors closing real soon.

They're shutting down.
We're down to the wire.

[deckhand] Whoo!

I already had
an "abandon ship."

Most captains never
have to deal with that.

It doesn't matter
how hard I can hit.

It matters how hard
I can get hit and keep going.

At the end of this season,
I'm hoping to cut a check

for a new boat.

$6 million boat.

There is no option to miss.
The season's closing.

[Keith] Away we go.

[deckhand] Let's go!


a lot of bairdi to find.

[deckhand] Whoo!

My brother not being here
definitely is a big swing.

We don't know if he's coming
back, but they're gonna do

what it's gonna take
to get through this.

-[alarm wailing]
-[Rick] Oh [bleep].

[Rick and deckhand speaking]

Come on, watch your rail,
watch your rail!

[deckhand]
Watch out, watch out!

[deckhands shouting]

[OJ speaking]

Right.

Pull it towards the fridge.

[tense music playing]

[Clark speaking]

[knocking on door]

Sig.

-Hey! Look at me.
-[Sig groans]

Whoa.

[Rick] Sig collapsed.

[Clark]
Open your eyes.

[Sig] Oh.

Damn.

[Clark] Sig.

What happened?

[narrator] 120 miles.
North of Dutch Harbor.

I've been able to punch
a pretty sizable hole

in my bairdi.

But everything's happened
really fast now.

Whoo!
Whoo!

And I still have
a long ways to go.

On the Titan Explorer.

[Mac]
Money, money, money baby.

[Felipe speaking]

Up and down, up and down.



So here's the problem I have.

I've got crab
over this huge plain here,

but they're spread out.

If I'm gonna buy this boat,
I'm gonna have to pick up

all the change that I can.

With eight days until cannery
closure, Captain Jake Anderson

assesses pot averages
over 40 square miles,

searching for a pattern
in bairdi behavior

and a strategy
to catch his final



[Jake]
Gotta think smart.

There's a bottleneck I think
these crab are moving towards.

Looks like a good place
where they're herding up.

Even though it's a bottleneck,
it's still pretty wide.

We need more pots.

We might need
some help out here.

Four miles North.

Oh [bleep].

The season
hasn't been easy,

so I'm getting kind of tired.

On the Northwestern.

Setting our pots off
for the 2025 bairdi season.

My offload is in four days.

[indistinct speaking]

[phone vibrating]

What's going on?

[Jake speaking]

[Sig speaking]

What are you seeing there?

[Jake speaking]

...if I can just get them
to school up.

There's a band
that goes down there

that looks
like it bottlenecks.

...It might help.

[Sig] Well, we're setting
out the last string

of this load, so...

I don't think
I want to do that.

But I'm curious
to see how that works.

-[Jake] Yeah, yeah, of course.
-All right, Roger, I'm out.

All right, late.

Well...

on to the next idea.

Work your magic, brain.

[intriguing music playing]

[unintelligible]

[Jake speaking]

We're gonna put
two pots together.

Back of the pot...

to be welded to the back
of another pot.

And I'm gonna try
to plug the bottleneck up.

With no help
from his former mentor...

Jake opts to weld and set
pairs of faded pots

across the narrow channel.

[deckhand speaking]

All right, send it.

-Going over.
-Whoo!

[cheering]

[Jake] The lengths that
I go to, to catch crab.

This is a reach.



In Anchorage, Alaska.

[Keith] You can't take anything
for granted in the Bering Sea.

During that big storm,
I just got launched

from the refrigerator
all the way to the sink.

[Monte]
What happened?

[unintelligible]

[Keith] My back's messed up.

I can barely, barely walk.
So I'm going to the hospital.

I want to get a real...

firm diagnosis on...

where my back is.

Too old to be risking
my life in the Bering Sea

with a bad back
and a bad kidney.

Right now, hopefully,
Monte can survive without me.



[OJ speaking]

On the western bairdi grounds.

[Monte]
We're back out fishing.

And my brother got banged up
down in the galley.

Went over that giant wave.

Just trying to get
through this.

Gotta get geared up
for the opi season.

We got 100,000 pounds to catch
when we're done with this

western bairdi slugfest.

That's the boundary, right?
That's the 166 line.

It defines the Eastern
bairdi district

and the Western
bairdi district.

So you have to stay
west of that.

These seas are
starting to build.

Getting pushed around
quite a bit here by the current

and the wind.

And this is gonna be
a bit of a chore.

[beeping]

The pilot's not working.

OK...

[indistinct chatter]

Be careful.

[Joe] That motor's as hot
as can be, do not --

-[Monte] Hot?
-Hot.

[Joe] Both of them.
You can't touch them.

[Monte]
The motor's hot.

Yeah, I mean, we got
some spare motors.

It's the electrical side
You do have a motor.

-Yeah, I got a motor.
-Well, now, how long?

[Joe speaking]

[deckhand] Whoo!

Could we take that
giant pipe wrench down

in the steering room
and put it on the post,

and at least get me
to where we're...

you know, some sort
of steering?

Unable to manipulate
the rudder post

in the four-by-three-foot
steering room...

[Joe and OJ speaking]

...Joe Serpas locates
the top of the steering post,

where an unknown fellow
marine engineer

conveniently
positioned it during

the Wizard's construction
back in World w*r II.

Six inches
beneath the galley bench.

[Joe] Looks like this
ought to work, man.

Yep, there we go.

All right, put that
[bleep] strap around

and then pull it tight now.

[metal clanking]

[Monte] Well, they've been
welding, I can smell it.

There is the tiller handle.

Operate the tiller handle, OJ.

[creaking]

OK.

Send two guys outside,
and we'll shove pots

off of here.
-OK.

Let's get some
strong bodies on that.

[Monte speaking]

-[indistinct shouting]
-[deckhand] Let's go.

OK, so slowly...

pull it...to port.

Just like three degrees.

These guys, steering the boat
with a steel makeshift tiller

in the freaking galley,
are gonna get us through

the next three or
four hours for him to put

the new motor on there.

No, that's the wrong way.
Go the other direction.

[bleep] damn it.

Lack of communication is
not working out well.

We're gonna have
to do something here.

[bleep].

Yeah, heads up.

Watch the rail.

[deckhand] Whoa!

Hang on!
Watch out!

[indistinct shouting]

On the Wizard...

[Monte] Hang on.
Hang on.

Hang on.

OK, so close enough to
straight for me right now.

Just hold on to that.

Down in the galley,
the kids are steering the boat

by hand.

Having a hell of a hard time.

[tense music playing]

[Monte speaking]

Going over.

OK, so hold that right there.

Go back to the starboard,
to the sink.

I'm actually pretty impressed
with Joe to put that together.

So now it's time to start
looking at what exactly

is going on with this
electrical problem.

Just trying to do what needs
to be done to get through this.



[Jake speaking]

[deckhand]
Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

On the Titan Explorer.

[indistinct shouting]

Each pot that I set here
in the string is two pots

welded together.

Been trying to work
on these crab in this area,

trying to school them up.

So, I'm plugging the bottleneck
with the string.

[deckhand speaking]

Come on, mega-pot!

It's coming out
of the water now.

[indistinct speaking]

There's crab in there.

[deckhand] Mega-pot!

Mega-pot,
[bleep]!

Yeah.

[Felipe] 61.

Mega-pot.

[Jake] 61.
I had 34 right there.

Now I have 61.
It's good.

It's still good.
Don't get me wrong.

It's just...

just the same.

[phone vibrating]

Hey, how's it going?

[Sig] I'm not burning it
up by any means.

[Clark speaking]

[Sig speaking]

kind of curious about that
area you're talking about.

[Jake]
I'm doing OK.

-Whoo!
-Whoo!

There's crab all around me.

The first mega-pot
that I pulled,

I had 30s around that area,

and the mega-pot
just had 60s in it.
-[deckhands exclaiming]

[Jake] So...

[deckhand] Look at that!

[Jake] Just, you know,
I'm...

[deckhand] Not too sexy.

I think you're right
on the money over here.

Well, I --

[Sig speaking]

I was thinking about...

With what?

I'm gonna go alongside
the bottle itself

before bottlenecks.

There's no bait in the pots.

And that's gonna funnel all
the crab and push them

into our baited gear.

OK.
I'll play along, so...

we'll get these pots on board.

And then we'll be
right above you.

[Jake speaking]

All right, Roger, I'm out.

[Jake] OK, bye bye.

Obviously, there's crab there.

It's just getting
them out of there.

That's the fun part.

Herding crab.

[deckhand]
Whoo-hoo!

[Jake] With Sig's help,

I'm gonna corral these
things in, man.

[deckhand] Yee-haw!

[Jake] This time,
it's gonna work!

[deckhand]
Whoo!



On the opilio grounds.

[Rick] We are rolling like
nobody's business.

There's nothing easy about
fishing opies in the winter.

Aboard the Aleutian Lady.

Oh man.

[groaning]

[exhales heavily]

I'm gonna be going as hard
and as fast as I can,

but I'm still not 100% sure
we've got the pounds

in our gear.

[deckhand]
Agh, [bleep].

Come on, baby.

Oh, no.

[Rick]
I don't have time for this.

I got to stack these pots
on board and move them.

I mean, about the only sign
we do got is the pots

on the west side are better.

With 40,000 pounds
of opilio still to catch,

Captain Rick Shelford
makes a last-ditch effort

to deliver before cannery doors
close in seven days,

redeploying his entire


in 20-foot breakers.

[Rick]
We don't got time to waste.

But we got a [bleep] ton
of opies to catch.

And then I have --
[waves crashing]

Damn it!

[alarm wailing]
Oh, [bleep].

[alarm wailing]

-[click]
-[alarm fades]

Hey, guys...

That is the last thing
we need right now.

[indistinct chatter]

The aftmost compartment
on the vessel,

called the lazarette,
or the laz,

sits between the outside hull

and the vessel's
rear crab tank.

Oh, [bleep].

[Rick] If salt water
starts getting in,

that's how boats sink.

If breached, the hold
could flood in minutes,

dragging the boat stern
first to the bottom

over 400 feet below.

[deckhand] Oh [bleep]...

Oof.

[indistinct shouting]

On the Aleutian Lady.

[Rick and deckhand speaking]

All right, have Noah go down
and pump that thing out.

[deckhands speaking]

[bleep]

If we're not able to pump it
out quick enough,

that means we're taking
on a lot of water.

That's how people die.
That's how boats sink.

[Noah speaking]

The leak could be
the crab tank.

It could be the rudder.
It could be the hatch.

Oh, that's it right there.

Coming right out
of tank three behind this.

[Noah speaking]

[Rick speaking]

[Noah] Roger!

If we can't get that thing
patched, I'm gonna have

to pump out that tank.

And I got 65,000 pounds of crab
in there right now.

I mean, that is $420,000
worth of crab.

Agh.
[bleep].

I still got crab
I gotta catch.

So we're gonna slide them west.

[Noah] [bleep].

I need that fix
on the last hole or...

we're gonna be
in a lot of trouble.



On the Titan Explorer.

[Jake speaking]

-No bait in these.
-[Felipe] No bait?

[Mac] Take the bait out.

[Jake] We're just dropping
cold steel on the bottom.

[Mac speaking]

Closing in
on the end of the season.

I got to keep going.

I'm running out of time.
So here's the plan.

You have a bottleneck.

All these spots that
have crab randomly.

So we're gonna set
a zigzag pattern

on either side of that.

No bait.

Once the crabs see
the bait in here,

they're all gonna start
funneling in this direction

into our baited gear.

It's definitely out of the box,
but it does make sense.

Here's Sig right now.

You got me here?

Well, yeah, yeah.
I got you go.

You go north,
I'll go south.

It's like herding sheep
into the pen.

[Sig speaking]

I'll wait till you zig,
and then I'll dump.

It's gonna work.
I know it, I know Jake...

The Magic Man.

Three...

two...

one.

Go.

[Titan Explorer crew howling]

[deckhand]
Go, go, go, go.

-Do it.
-[Clark] Let's go!

[indistinct shouting]

Five degrees first.
All right, here I go.

You're going to starboard?

[Jake] Yeah, Roger.
I'm going starboard.

OK, I'll wait until you zig.

[Jake] Roger.

[tense music playing]

[Sig]
OK, zigging.

[Northwestern crew] No bait!

[Mac]
You got to get the bait out.

[indistinct chatter]

Three, two, one.

[Mac speaking]

Let her go!

[Jake speaking]

Here we go.

[Sig] OK.

Zag.

[crew] Come on!
Keep running!

-Going over!
-Going over!

-[Jake] See, up, down, up.
-[Mac] Zigzag!

[Jake] Cold steel...

raining down on the ground.

[Mac speaking]

Let's hope his scheme works.
I do have my doubts...

but I'll play.



In Anchorage.

My doctor did a whole huge
panel of tests on my kidney.

"Chance you have any serious
injury is very low.

May return to work
if he is not worsening."

Sounds like I'm halfway home.

I'll get my butt back to Dutch
Harbor as soon as possible.


of Dutch Harbor.

[Monte]
Hold the tiller to starboard.

Just -- I don't know,
just a couple degrees.

She's doing all right.

We're going basically straight
into the weather right now.

Just hold on to that.

On the Wizard.

We're putting along here...

and continue to steer
the boat by hand, miraculously.

Pretty impressed, myself.

We're actually able
to pull that off.

Joe's looking at
what exactly is going on

with this electrical problem.

While engineer
Joe Serpas troubleshoots

the steering problem,
Captain Monte

approaches his final bairdi
haul with a jury-rigged rudder.

We're just trying
to finish this thing off,

and quite frankly,
we're running out of time.

But with just days until
canneries shut down,

the veteran captain sprints
to tank his quota

and retrieve his brother,
Keith, from Dutch Harbor

before starting
the opilio fishery.

[Joe] Hello, cap.

The connection was
really bad there.

I don't know if it was
just vibration

over a period of time.

So I've reworked the box.
Seems good.

[Monte] All right,
let's do a little test.

[boat creaking]

OK.

Well, that's a huge relief.

And you know what the thing is,
is that taking that break,

the gear got a bunch of soak.

Thanks, Joe.

Coming up.

So we're back to hauling here.

This is the boundary line.

We have gear over here
that's purple.

And it's a little bit
of an unknown.

Let's see how we did here.

[deckhand]
Alright, [indistinct].

Come on, baby.
Come on, baby.

[Wizard crew cheering]

[cheering]

Oh, awesome!

[Monte speaking]

Yeah, touchdown!

Yeah!
Jackpot!

[deckhand speaking]

One -fifteen.
I'll take 115.

[cheering]

Yeah, baby!

[Monte]
That's exactly what we need.

We're hoping to close in on
our number through the night.

Go in and deliver.

We're gonna see
how my brother's doing,

just waiting for word.



All right, we're coming up
on our string.

[Jake speaking]

I had to make a move
and take a risk.

I've been trying to...

work on these crab in this area,
trying to school them up.

I had to lure them
with the bait.

And then I had to herd them
into the pen.

That was with the zigzag pots
Sig and I set.

Now, let's just see
what's in them.

With strings like these,
it can change the season.

If I don't get it, I'll never
be able to buy the Titan.

We're here where Jake had
a feeling there'd be some crab.

First pot's coming up here.
Let's see how they do.

[over speaker]

I wouldn't want to see --
anything over 50s would be good.

You know, if you get
that one little spot,

that one little bump,

those numbers add up
very quickly.

This needs to produce for us

to get us across
that finish line --

down to the wire.

First pots in the block.

If it does work,
I'll be a hero.

[Sig]
If it fails, it's a big risk.

This is kind of,
make or break it.

OK, here she comes.

Here it comes.
Come on.

[deckhand] Oh, god!

[Sig] Hey, Jaxsen.
Hello.

[Jaxsen]
Guess what I did, grandpa?

What'd you do?

I did an [unintelligible].

[Sig] Emoji?

When I get home, can you
teach me how to do that?

[Jaxsen speaking]

Well, Baby Sailor's
smarter than grandpa.

Well, we're gonna be home
in a couple weeks.

Can you show me?

[Addy speaking]

You did?

Can I have your tooth so I can
put it under my pillow?

-[Addy] No.
-No?

Cheapskate.

OK, got to go.

[Addy speaking]

OK.

Snicklefritz.

I would rather be
at home, but the reality is

we're here for the family.

So, get this job done
and go home and rest up.

[deckhand]
Crab coming up!

[Jake] With strings like these,
it could change the season.

I really need it to pay off.

[Mac] Money, money,
money, money.

-[indistinct]
-Whoo!

[deckhand and Jake speaking]

[deckhand] Yeah!

[cheering]

There's a lot of crab here.

[deckhand speaking]

[crew cheering]

[deckhand] Yeah, baby!

There it is.

[deckhand]
Looks pretty good.

Yeah, that actually
looks really good.

[Titan Explorer
deckhand speaking]

-93.
-Yeah.

[Northwestern deckhand speaking]



-[crew cheering]
-Well, who knows?

Maybe Anderson's
not so crazy after all.

[deckhand] Yeah!

-So, how goes it down there?
-80 average here all day.

[Sig] 85.


Well, that looks good.

[Jake speaking]

Well, that's good...

Right, yeah, let's stay
in touch, though.

-I'll let you know how it goes.
-OK, we'll talk.

[Jake]
I'll get back to it.
Later.

I had strong northern end,
so, buck it over,

just up above that.

We're gonna turn around,
jog up the hill,

let the gear soak,
and just start picking

in the morning.

I feel...

I feel like I've already
been up for over a day,

and it's starting to show,
but I'm getting kind of tired,

to be quite honest.

Can you send Clark up?

[deckhand] Roger!

[audible yawn]

[Clark] Yeah.

[Sig] Let's get my...

[Clark speaking]

All right.
Yeah.

I will.
I'll go slow.

Hey, Karl.

[over speaker]

Hopefully, we're gonna get
through the gear

and get out of here.



Aboard the Aleutian Lady.

It stopped the leak.
That's what's important.

[Rick] We've got the laz
all dealt with.

Let's hope it holds.

We slid a bit in the same
depth curve on some sign.

I'm hoping for over
a 400 average on it,

but as far as I know,
it could be blank.

-All right, baby, all right!
-whoo!

[deckhand speaking]

Crab count.
Six, six, six.



[Rick speaking]

I don't like the number,
but I'll take

the frickin' count.
Hell yeah!

[deckhand] Whoo!

[Rick speaking]

[deckhand speaking]

[crew speaking]

[groan] --
[bleep].

What was that?

[Rick and Noah speaking]

[bleep]

[bleep] -- [indistinct].

[deckhand] Sorry, bud.

Noah just got hit in the mouth
with the picking hook.

[Noah groans]

I mean, it's like getting
punched in the face

by Mike Tyson.

[over speaker]

Let's open it up.

Oh, damn.

Yeah, that is cracked
all the way up there.

Let's get this open.
Let's get some pictures.

Um...

we got to head in.

I don't want...

it to end up being
a big problem.

-All right?
-Roger.

I got a feeling with it being
broke so high up...

-[Noah] Yeah.
-[Rick] ...your roots exposed,

and it's gonna
start hurting like a mother.

So we're going to Dutch.

All right.
Thanks.

[tense tones playing]

We just got to get in there
safely, get Noah to the dentist,

and then get our asses
out of there as quick as we can,

because I still have
crab to catch.

It's not where I want to be,
but it's where I'm at.



[Clark speaking]

No.

[Clark] Oh, [bleep] all right.
I'll get him up.

All right.

[knocking]

Sig.

[knocking]

[Clark] Oh, [bleep].

Sig.

Hey.

Hey.

Are you with --
hey.

You awake?

Hey.
Look at me.

Look at me.

-Hold on.
-[Clark] Let's get
his legs down.

Sig.

Open your eyes.

-Can you talk?
-[groaning]

[Clark] OK.

[Clark] Yeah, he did.
There's puke over there.

[Sig groans]

Hey, dude, we're gonna get
Coast Guard on 16.

[Clark] No?

[producer] He's, like,
on the ground, dude.

Call who?

[Sig speaking]

[Clark] Ready?
Sit up.

Sit up.

All right, sit down.

-[groaning]
-Easy.

What happened?

[Sig speaking]

[Sig groans]

[Clark] We need to call
the Coast Guard.

We don't even know --

You sure?

Let me see --

Hold on.

[waves crashing]