16x19 - Rogue Wave Juggernaut

[bunniefuu]

Man: Oh, damn it!

Monte: We're all greedy.

Jake: Here comes a big one.

Don't kid yourself.

These tides
get to screaming, watch out.

Could be a recipe for disaster
for the greedy guys.

Right now, the super snow moon
is upon us.

Oh!

Does it feel like it's busted?

[ man groans ]

jake: This is the most money
that I've made this fast...



[ all cheering ]

...And I'm not gonna stop now.

- Whoo!
- Whoa!

Monte: You want to come out here
and fill the boat?

It's not a given.

Tides are pretty good,
so is the wind.

Monte: It's pretty scary,

and this is about as bad
as it gets.

- Hang on.
- Ohh!

Watch out. Watch out.

- Oh!
- Son of a b*tch!

- [bleep]
- watch out!

Jake: Hurry up! Come on, man!

You guys know where your
survival suits are, right?



Trying to get us back fishing.
If not, we will see.

Monte: This ocean's got
a long history

of swallowing stuff up.

In these conditions, just
kind of hope for the best...

And pray.

captions paid for by
discovery communications

weather has really
taken a turn for the worse.

Narrator: Seven weeks in
to a grueling winter season...

Josh: Tides are flying back
and forth

harder than they have
in a long time.

It's not fit for man nor beast
out here today.

Narrator: ...Mother nature
whips up a new evil...

Casey:
Full moon means bigger tides.

Bigger tide means
more water moving.

Whoo!

Narrator: ...A super snow moon,

a rare astronomical event

where a full moon
coincides with orbital perigee,

intensifying
the gravitational pull

and unleashing
powerful currents.

Gonna bring some
really big tides

and that might affect fishing.

Gonna try to keep working.

[ speaks indistinctly ]

narrator: Adding to the mix,
a 250-mile-wide

low-pressure system
armed with shredding

50-knot cyclonic winds stirs
the building tidal surge...

Whoo!

...Creating a gauntlet
of rogue waves.

Jake: This is a big one.

Narrator: It's not
if you get hit, it's when.

Jake: It is scary.

- Whoo!
- Going over!

♪♪

Narrator: 540 miles
northwest of dutch harbor

on the 128-foot
cornelia marie...

Casey: This is definitely

some of the worst seas
that we've seen.

These [bleep] waves
are so nasty big.

That snow is blowing
straight at us.

♪♪

Very intimidating, very scary.

Co-captains
josh harris and casey mcmanus

plow through a building sea,

forged by the super moon's bold
and powerful 50-knot winds.

We got 10 pots
left in the string.

How many more pots
do we have north of us?

From this one? 20.

It's gonna be gnarly.

After adding $50,000
in mechanical repairs

to an already staggering
$1 million shipyard debt...

We are gonna need more crab.

Got to get in the meat pile.

Yeah, that's right.

...Josh and casey

look for two strings
to staunch the bleeding.

We've got to get
to 190,000 or so.

[bleep]
200,000 would be even better.

This kind of weather
can k*ll production.

And if you're not on
big numbers,

you need to go through
a lot of gear.

If you can't go through
a lot of gear, you're screwed.

The risk has got to be
worth the reward.

These pots here,

just got to kind of see
what happens.

Their mountainous opilio quota
still looming,

the young skippers'
next two pots

will determine if the plunder...

Is worth the peril.

I just can't find
the damn things.

Ohh.

Been driving in circles
for an hour looking for one.

Crew's pissed off.

♪♪

Aha! Found the [bleep]

- oh, yeah!
- Oh, yeah!

Man #2: Oh!

♪♪

Whoa [bleep]

that's big, big, big, big.

Yeah.

♪♪

♪♪

[ laughter ]

- alright!
- Yeah!

Definitely not
the largest quantity pot

I've ever seen,

but the quality's
looking pretty good.

- Right on.
- Yeah, baby.

Josh: That's pretty bad.

Oh.

Can we do it?

Yeah, we can do it,

but it's not necessarily
a favorite thing to do.

♪♪

Screw it.

It's a good chance
we could pull this off

and finish this trip out.

- Whoo!
- Whoo!

Sweet! Do this!

Stick and stay and make it pay.

Narrator:
Reluctant but determined,

it's all systems go for now.

100 miles west...

...On the wizard.

♪♪

These are all 15-, 18-footers,

and we haven't seen
the meat of it yet.

Now, the rails opened up
to the seas here.

It's gonna get worse
before it gets better.

Narrator: On his way
to a northern town soak,

monte colburn battles
through a building brew

of flag-shredding winds
and an opposing tide,

a breeding ground
for deadly rogue waves.

We're on our third trip.

Left my brother on the beach.

He flew to seattle so he can get
his hernia dealt with.

Narrator: A location secured

by co-captain keith colburn
just two days ago.

Monte: It's a good thing
my brother left.

There's no way
he could have made

another trip out here safely.

[ phone ringing ]

this could be my brother,
hopefully.

Hello. Wizard.

Well, I don't know about that.

It's hard to say
what's gonna be in the gear.

So you know what to do, mouse.

Okay, so, hey, I'm honed on
this blue light in fog

and snow and everything else.

I got six guys
I'm trying to keep busy,

so I'm gonna let you go.

Alright. Alright, bye.

He pretty much wants me to get
the gear out of here.

Narrator: With the forecast
calling for northerly winds

and descending ice floes,
brother and boat owner keith

calls for a little prudence

in monte's pursuit
of opilio gold.

Monte: Alright. Let's see some
action on the rails.

Look alive.

They're coming! They're coming!

- Whoo!
- Whoo!

Monte:
Got a million pounds to go.

It's imperative
that we fill the boat.

♪♪

♪♪

- Whoo!
- There you go!

♪♪

[ knocks on glass ]

♪♪

♪♪

All right.
Let's see what we got here.

♪♪

♪♪

Roger. 70.

Not ideal, but let's just hope
he gets a little bit better.

♪♪

- Oh, man.
- Pretty bleak.

♪♪

Yeah, roger.

♪♪

Gone from bad to worse.

Honestly,
it's pretty lame out here,

the set my brother
put us on is off now.

♪♪

My brother wants me to get out.

He'd probably like to see us
haul this gear south,

but I think what I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna run

out into this other canyon,
deep foreshock country

up by the russian line.

I filled this boat
400,000 pounds in four days

at this very location.

Narrator:
Monte spins the wheel on
nutrient-rich northern grounds,

only 60 miles from the ice edge,

betting he can take advantage
of the fertile territory

before the flows envelop
his entire 170-pot load.

It's gonna be a little hairy
because it's sloppy,

but we've got to take a chance.

You leave the dock,
you want to fill the boat.

We're gonna put these pots
on the boat, head up the hill.

[ cheers ] [bleep]

stack it up.

Hell yeah!

It's going to be
a long night down here.

♪♪

It's definitely
not pretty out here.

You've got cold.

The spray hurts
when it hits your face.

It's like little needles.

♪♪

Tide is changing here.

And it's not for the better
weather on the side.

Nerve-racking at best. Uh-oh.

Come around.

Man, no.

Don't do it.
Don't [bleep] do it.

Watch out, watch out!
[ alarm beeping ]

whoa!

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: On the wizard...

Come around. [bleep]

come around, you b*stard.

Oh, man. No. Don't do it.

Don't [bleep] do it.

Watch out, watch out!
[ alarm beeping ]

- whoa!
- Whoa!

♪♪

You see that [bleep] beast?

- Aah!
- Ugh!

♪♪

The wave came over the side
onto o.J.'s leg.

Narrator: While the crew lands
a pot on the starboard rail,

a 35-foot wall of water

blindsides the deckhands
from behind.

Oh [bleep]

sending pascual "o.J." ganuelas

hurdling into the steel
enclosure.

How we doing?

♪♪

Is it broken?

You can wiggle your leg
and all that?

Yeah. Was just [bleep] numb.
You know? Just...

Okay, it's not broken
or anything really drastic.

Thank god.

Yeah.

♪♪

I looked at o.J.'s leg
and, you know, he's okay.

He's probably gonna have
a big, gnarly bruise.

You know, it's probably
gonna be sore, you know.

Could have been something major
very easily.

Scary stuff, man.

Pretty fragile out here.

Wouldn't take much for one
of these boats to have

a life-threatening problem.

Narrator: With over 100 hundred
pots left to haul and stack...

...Captain and crew gear up
for a long night

before the 100 mile steam north
to new grounds.

Let's get on course here.

Let's go see if we can't
blast through these pots.

♪♪

♪♪

125 miles southeast...

♪♪

...On the saga...

Look at these waves.

♪♪

♪♪

Game on!

Whoo!

...Skirting the southern edge
of the low pressure system.

♪♪

Working with sig put me
on a massive amount of crab.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Captain jake anderson
st*lks a school of crab

into lower latitudes,
hoping super moon tides

don't squelch his success.

Jake: I'm doubling down.

And I have two tanks to fill.

But in this kind of weather,
is really hard

to judge their movement.

They could all be gone.

Narrator:
But in the chaotic current,

the crab can be mercurial,

oscillating between the need
to feed

and the instinct to hunker down
and simply survive.

♪♪

♪♪

[ radio static ]

- whoo!
- Yeah!

- Whoo!
- It's looking good.

[ cheering ]

look at that, big dog.

- Yeah.
- Great first pot.

Beautiful.

♪♪

A good sign.

♪♪

- Hell yeah!
- [ laughs ]

♪♪

Oh, my god.

- Hell yeah!
- Whoo!

Coming up!

- Whoo!
- Coming down!

I feel good about
these huge pots

that are coming over the rail,

but we've got a lot of work
to do today.

We've got a lot of work
to do tonight.

Yeah!

♪♪

Big seas, heavy pot, but we're
not letting it stop us.

We're still hauling.

♪♪

♪♪

[ thump ]

♪♪

[ thump ]

[ sighs ]

[ thump ]

hey, joe,
can you check the engine room?

It sounds like
there's steel hitting steel

or something heavy fell over.

Do you think you could
check it out?

Okay, cool. Thanks.

♪♪

♪♪

[ thump ]
see? There it is again.

♪♪

♪♪

[ thump ] man: What is it?

[bleep] we got a problem.

I got to go talk to jake.

[bleep]

[bleep] huge problem.

♪♪

Jake? That noise
we've been hearing,

that's your rudder post
slamming up and down, man.

They're slamming hard.

Like how hard?

I mean, it's moving
three to four inches,

but I seen it just go,
whisht! Boom!

♪♪

[bleep] damn it.

♪♪

All right,
everybody come inside.

Close off wheelhouse right now.
Hurry.

There's a big problem
underneath the boat.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: On the saga...

Just sit down,
don't say a [bleep] word.

- Thank you.
- Roger.

Just to let you guys know,
there's a big problem

going on underneath the boat
with the rudder post.

So clayton, I need you
to sit at the helm.

Roger.

Try to keep us straight.

If you lose that rudder,
it ain't good.

Yep.

You guys know where
your survival suits are, right?

How many life rafts do we have?

Where's your suit?

Right here by the flares.

And I got one in the fore p.

Um, just hang out up here.

I'll keep an eye on it.

I'll try to get us back
fishing again.

♪♪

Narrator:
Mauled by a vicious sea,

unshackled by
the super snow moon,

a loose rudder post in the hull

threatens catastrophic failure.

This boat could sink.

♪♪

We lose that rudder post,
pretty much all we have

is a big hole in the boat.

Water's gonna come pouring in.

Narrator: The steel post
that secures the rudder

and allows it to move
from side to side is loose.

If it cracks or breaks,
jake can lose his rudder

and his ability to steer.

Worse yet, losing the post
altogether would leave

a gaping hole
in the bottom of the hull

and cause the vessel
to flood or even sink.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: To keep the post from
moving in either direction...

♪♪

All right.

Jake macgyvers a temporary fix

using a pipe
and some bering sea ingenuity.

Unable to get to the problem
under the hull,

jake needs his patch job
to survive a 460-mile journey

back to dock
through the ripping currents

and howling, 45-knot winds.

♪♪

♪♪

95 miles northwest...

On the cornelia marie...

It is [bleep] out there.

This stuff is just stacking up
worse and worse.

Like the little switch got
flipped in the bering sea.

Narrator:
After tanking nearly 10,000
pounds in their first string,

co-captains josh and casey
approach their northern gear.

♪♪

We can still haul gear I think.

Trying to get this done quickly.

We get as much crab
on the boat as we can

and get back to making money.

Narrator: Both skippers
unwilling to relent

despite the rising sea state

and increased probability
of violent rogue waves.

Casey: We have to figure out
how to make something work.

♪♪

[bleep]

now they're ready to turn
their red numbers black.

I don't know yet.

We're in some big seas.

And I don't like taking risks
with my guys.

It's great to make
a lot of money,

but it ain't that great
if you're dead

or seriously injured.

Well, right now,
we are right on that brink.

By most people standards,
this is probably

whether it's a little too rough
to haul in.

This is one of those calls
where you got to really watch

what's happening and see
what the boat can handle.

♪♪

Let's get on it.

Hey, you got me?

Okay.

- Yes.
- Go.

♪♪

Desperate times call
for desperate measures.

- Yeah, baby!
- On it.

Whoo-whee! Let's do this!

♪♪

Uh-oh.

Oh. Hang on. Hang on. Big one.

♪♪

[ man groans ]

♪♪

Narrator:
On the cornelia marie...

♪♪

Josh: Uh-oh.

Oh. Hang on. Hang on. Big one.

♪♪

[ man groans ]

♪♪

- Oh!
- You okay, man?

- Yeah.
- [ groans ]

[ chuckles ]

holy [bleep] wow!

♪♪

Did you see that?
[chuckles] man.

It's a 50-foot. Enough to
scare the crap out of you.

Whoo!

♪♪

Narrator:
Approaching their first pot,

a 50-foot rogue wave
explodes over the port side...

Uh-oh.

...Swamping the deck,
dipping the starboard rail,

stopping the cornelia
in her tracks.

[ man groans ]

look, you know,
I can literally...

[bleep] I don't... that
was... that's the biggest wave

we've taken in this wheelhouse.

That was not... not spray
over the top of the green...

Green water.

♪♪

This is way too nasty.

♪♪

Narrator: With savage
and unpredictable seas

surrounding them...

Sorry, guys,
I'm sure you felt that one.

Um, go ahead
and take your stuff off.

I'm ready to not be
out there anymore.

Narrator: The young captains
wait for the conditions to abate

rather than risk injury
or worse.

The boat can damn near
take anything, but the crew,

you can only hit somebody
so hard

with that much water pressure
and not hurt them.

Have to the wave
the white flag for the day.

♪♪

Narrator: 60 miles northwest...

♪♪

♪♪

On the wizard...

[ groans ]

well, we've just traveled
a solid 100 miles,

super snow moon storm
is obviously as promised.

♪♪

50 knot winds and 30 foot seas.

But we're gonna open
the b*mb bay doors

and just blast all this 70 pots

right on top of
this little spot here.

Down $15,000 in fuel
and supplies

after his run north,

captain monte bets
on the nutrient-rich grounds

just south of the ice edge

to take a bite out of his
remaining 800,000-pound quota...

[ sat phone ringing ]

monte: That's my brother.

♪♪

Narrator:
...Foregoing keith's advice

to keep his pots down south.

Way up here.
The russian boundary,

we've caught a lot of crab
in that canyon in the past.

We know we'll be alone.

So...

♪♪

Narrator: Now, despite
the high risk of rogue waves,

monte hopes to get in and out,

beating the ice to crab...

♪♪

...Before his gear is swallowed
by southerly flows.

I don't know if my brother
is gonna be real excited

about us going back up
by the ice,

but that's what we do
if we want to catch any crab.

Alright, here we go. I'm going
to go on the beeper mode.

Hold that thing down
wherever you are,

get a hold of something.

Be careful.

♪♪

[ laughs ]

♪♪

It's pretty important
to fill this old girl up.

♪♪

We've got the whole team.
O.J.'s gonna be okay.

Daylight now, so we might
be able to run this one

a little bit safer.

♪♪

♪♪

Just get these [bleep]
off of here.

♪♪

It makes you nervous having the
guys outside

when the weather's like this.

These waves are hard
to push through.

♪♪

♪♪

Yikes, yikes, yikes.

- Come on. Heads up.
- Whoa!

Be careful.

It's cold.

Waves are big, winds are high.

Whoa!

♪♪

Monte: Watching these waves,
it's nerve-racking.

You know, the whole trick now
is to avoid freaking giant hits.

♪♪

Hopefully these guys will be in
the house in about five minutes.

One more.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Watch out, watch out! Run! Run!

Run!

Oh, no!

♪♪

Damn it!

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

My fathers, growing up,
we're working on the same boat

at one time, the raven.

Narrator: Before there was
a super snow moon storm,

deckhand maria dosal's father,
shawn wheeler,

and step-father bill sager

were part of a near tragedy
on the bering sea.

My mom gets this phone call at
home, and it's the coast guard.

My dad's boat had tipped over.

♪♪

They were all
on the side of the boat

in their survival suits
when the helicopter came.

I'm just happy
that they made it.

♪♪

♪♪

Sometimes when you go out
to the bering sea,

their fathers don't come back.

♪♪

Narrator: The saga
heads to town for repair

while the wizard remains
in the pole position.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: On the wizard...

♪♪

Watch out! Watch out! Run! Run!

Run!

Oh, no!

♪♪

Damn it!

How we doing down there?

[bleep]

[ spits ]

who is it?

[ todd groaning ]

narrator: In a blur of green
water, rain gear, and steel...

Watch out, watch out. Run! Run!

Narrator:
...A 35 foot rogue wave cascades

onto the exposed crew,
wiping them across the deck.

Oh, no!

Ripping the 400-pound coiler
off its bolts

and onto 22-year old
todd gateman's leg.

[ todd groaning ]

[ sighs ]

just come in the house.

- [ groans ]
- oh, my god.

♪♪

[ groans ]

- how is it?
- Pretty bad.

How are we doing?

Right leg.

I'm sorry. [bleep]

does it feel like
it's busted or not?

No, I don't think
it's busted, but it hurts.

Okay, take a break.

I'm just going to idle up
into the weather.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

That thing was gigantic, man.

[ groaning ]
the knee, all the way down, man.

I bet.

♪♪

I know your adrenaline's
still pumping right now.

Once that wears off,
shock is a real thing, okay?

♪♪

I see some bruising
starting there already.

It's turning black and blue.

♪♪

This is not what we need.

It hurts.

I can't believe that kid
was under that coiler. My god.

Terrifying.
That coiler is really heavy.

Imagine the force behind it.

Get him back on deck here
in a couple of days,

god willing.

I'm not counting on it.

We've got to turn around,
put it on our stern,

and weld the coiler back down

because it's on its side
on deck still.

As soon as this weather comes
down enough to haul some gear,

we're going to.

It's the captain's job to make
it happen when times get tough.

♪♪

Narrator: Under the harsh gaze
of the super snow moon...

Josh: These guys are gonna
earn their money tonight.

♪♪

Work, work, grind, grind.

After surviving
a 50-foot rogue wave,

we're gonna scratch,
fight till the end.

Just going till I stop
seeing gear.

...One boat rejoins the battle.

Getting it done.

Jake: I couldn't keep fishing.

The risk is way too high
to mess around with.

Narrator: ...Another retreats...

Jake: There is a serious problem
going on with my rudder.

♪♪

Try to get a diver down here
as soon as possible.

...To nurse its wounds
and fight another day.

Jake: It costs us time.

Just money out here.

But I'm not a quitter.

...While in
the far northern reach,

one captain's bold move
to fish near the ice pack...

...Brings him
a hard-earned victory.

- Yeah!
- What do you think of that?

[ chuckles ]

whoo!

Oh, yeah, baby!

Do the little crab dance.

Crabs will make them dance.
Crabs will make them dance.

♪♪

- Oh, yeah!
- I'll honestly say,

I didn't anticipate 400 or 500s.

I can assure you of that.

- Coming aboard.
- Whoo!

♪♪

[ sat phone ringing ]

this could be my brother,
hopefully.

♪♪

Hello, wizard.

I got you fine.

We haven't heard from you
in a spell.

I moved 'em up the hill...

Nope.

[bleep]
he's just a [bleep] jackass.

You know, these guys are liking
what they're seeing.

It's nice big crab.

And it's heartbreaking to be

rolling out of here
with the gear.

Yeah!

♪♪

But the ice is coming down,

this super snow moon
barreling down on top of us

has got a lot to do with it.

Oh, my eye.

It's not gonna stop
for the foreseeable future.

♪♪