Getting Close

Ive got about 20 days left on this contract and the possibility of getting pulled any day and Im stoked. Being on this boat has been awesome but I am ready to come home. The capain said he wants to request to my boss to extend my contract till the end of the season. A huge compliment and quite tempting. I really wanna come home but the chance to stay up an extra month or so and pocket that money without doing an full 90 day contract would be awesome. I doubt my boss will let me but the Skipper swears he will get to keep me. Ill have to do some thinking on that one. We have had some weather here recently that makes me dread coming up here for another winter where weather is always bad. Collecting unemployment and some time off should help me look for something more convenient while i wait for the Fall 2010 school semester when I will hopefully be working on my masters.

Here are a few pics, internet here sucks so i only have a few.

Other than the countdown to real life, Paul has been house hunting and we are ready to make a move. Hopefully that will happen in the real near future. Football season has started and im stoked about that. Paul has our Fantasy league up and running and im sure we are looking for more people to participate. Let me know if you wanna join in, its tons of fun.

In about 20 days ill be heading to Seattle for Debriefing which could take a while since i came out about a week after everyone and have stayed a full 90 days. Ill have to wait in line after all the other 90-day-ers but now that ive debriefed before i should be able to knock it out once we get started.

I miss everyone and cant wait to be back in the real world. Let me know if you wanna do Fantasy Football or anything for that matter. Ill be back soon enough.

1 Month In…

So Its been 35 days and again, like last season, its proving to be the slump of the trip. The excitment of being at sea is gone and with so much idle time on my hands it gets pretty “blah”. Fishing has died down as well meaning the crew, as great as they are, arent in the best moods. Also, the beautiful weather of Bristol Bay durring our 13 day Salmon Tendering trip had spoiled us and when we got back out to sea and had a few days of less than perfect weather, it reminded me why this job can suck. Greatful as I am that I dont get sea sick, the constant motion makes even the most routine actions a pain not to mention trying to collect biological specimens the size of your pinky nail out of a fish’s head! All in all though, I couldnt ask for a better crew. Im getting to kill some of that idle time by helping out with some of the work done on the boat and the crew think it is just awesome that Im down to help out. Its a common topic at the dinner table, stories of past observers and I wish I could hear what they will say about me to the next guy/girl. They freekin love me, who could blame them tho!

With my idle time I am making my plans for when I return. I need to see my friends asap so a trip to see Andy and one to see Matt are an A priority. Applying to grad school is going to happen and while I wait for that to be processed I want to take a Nutrition class at UCF and make that my new hobbie, eating well I mean. House shopping is still going on and needs to be put on the front burner when I get home.

I caught a shark too, big one!

THERE IS AN ASIAN LADY IN THE SAME ROOM AS ME SCREAMING INTO THE PHONE!!!! ITS DRIVING ME CRAZY.

So I also put together the video footage from winter and put it to a song. Check it out, you may have seen part of this before but its better together. Im gonna get a video of us fishing on this dragger and get that up next week or so. Untill then, I am counting down the days. Halfway through the contract days start to fly by, or at least they did last season, and thats only 10 days away. Miss everyone, I wanna hang so hard when I get back, Sept 11th is the last day they can keep me up here and then I will have to do my stuff in Seattle for a week or 2. So at the latest I should be home mid to late September. Cant wait!

So yesterday was my Birthday!

Its day 7, one week into my contract and im back in Akutan. We’ve had 2 trips so far, and this is turning out to be a cruise compaired to last season. The weather is calm as you can see in the videos below. The crew on my boat is great and the work is easy so far. The first video is of us after we pulled up a 110 ton bag of pollock. An eel thing was left on deck. Nastey little guy with scary teeth, these guys sit on the bottom on the ocean and rip off flesh dead fish that sink to the bottom of the ocean. A great quote my Marine Bethic Ecology Professor told me “When Whales die, they dont go to heaven. They sink to the bottom of the sea”… Very insightful. And these guys are the ones eating them.

Fixing the net from Ian Kutch on Vimeo.

Click the link to watch the vidz!

This one is HD, just wanted to see if the net/ocean/dudes look badass in HD. Keep in mind, this is a really nice day. 4 footers maybe. Summer weather is awesome out here!

HD Work on the Net from Ian Kutch on Vimeo.

Before I left for Alaska me and the fam went to Indiana for our Family Reunion. Its a yearly thing but our family has been bad and we havent seen the family in 5 years! Heres a video of my two cousins who are probably the cutest ever.

Cousins from Ian Kutch on Vimeo.

Back to Dutch

So I’m waiting to get on my plane from Anchorage to Dutch Harbor! I’m getting on the Pacific Viking to replace a long time prior observer which leads me to believe this is a real nice boat. Interestingly you don’t have to go through security screening I you are flying to Dutch which kinda gives me an odd feeling. I’ll shoot some video of the flight and of Dutch and the boat today an if we don’t set sail tonight I might be able to through them up on here tomorrow. If not I’ll post again after our first trip. These trips are gonna be much shorter than last time because it’s a smaller boat that is not a processor. Once we fill up with fish we come back in to deliver our unsorted catch to a land processing plant. This means I get more days on land but I have to monitor the entire offload for prohibited species. Looks like salmon aren’t making it to their spawning grounds lately do they set a hard cap on the fishery. Once the fleet catches 60,000 salmon they will shut down the season. No one expects this to happen but it makes everyone nervous and means I get a new top priority! Anways, hope my flight is smooth, very small planes. Miss everyone already!

Ian

Here are my plans for the next week. Meeting up with my main scoot and the Look Mexicans in San Diego on Wed and hanging with them for about 5 days. Then ill be heading back to Florida to see friends and family! Can’t Wait. See you all soon.

Ian

Leave on the 25th at 7:20am.
Depart Mar 25 Wed 1 SEA-SJC-SAN 1793

Depart Seattle (SEA) at 7:20 AM
Layover San Juan (SJC) 9:25 AM – 9:55 AM
Arrive in San Diego (SAN) at 11:15 AM

25th – Arrive in San Diego at 11:15am

25th Show
Mar 25 2009 8:00P
Hensely’s Flying Elephant w/ Frank Turner & Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts Carlsbad (San Diego), California

26th Show
Mar 26 2009 8:00P
Viper Room w/ Frank Turner & Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts West Hollywood, California

27th Show
Mar 27 2009 8:00P
The Blank Club w/ Frank Turner & Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts San Jose, California

28th Show
Mar 28 2009 8:00P
Thee Parkside w/ Frank Turner & Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts San Francisco, California

30th Show
Mar 30 2009 8:00P
Backspace w/ Frank Turner Portland, Oregon

Flight on the 31st at 6:15am for
Frontier
Depart PDX 6:15a
Arrive MCO 4:11p

(6h 56m)1

Natural Scoot.

Scroot!

Pabst Blue Scoot

Stick a Fork in it!

I am done! After a month of training followed by 75 days of work with only 4 off, I am leaving the Bering Sea. We just finished fishing and we are steaming back to Dutch Harbor. I leave for Seattle Tomorrow, weather permitting, where I will begin the process that is “Debreifing”. Ill have to finalize all my data and explain how all of it was collected. This process can be hell for those that are unorganized or people who just didnt get it out here. I think I am neither of those so it should be fine. After the debreifing process, depending on when I get done I am meeting up with Look Mexico for the 2nd half of their West Coast tour. Depending on when I get done Ill try to meet up with them in San Diego and make out way up Cali and then across the country. Heres a little map of the tour schedule and stops.

Tour Stops With Look Mexico

Anyways, All said and done, what an amazing adventure. I know I discovered a lot about myself in the process, one being how much I love and miss Florida! So im excited to be done, but in no way dissappointed in my decision to come out here. Im sure ill do it again. Tentative plans are to come back in July. Next on the list of things to do is Get a place with my Brother around Downtown and start Applying to Graduate Schools. However things turn out Im glad I can say I did this amazing job in the Bering Sea. This is the picture of a Seasoned Bering Sea Fisherman.

Yo Ho.

Goodbye Alaska and Fish Smell and Constant Rolling Waves and Cold Weather and Too many dudes on Too small a boat. Im sure I’ll miss it after some time on land, but for now, Gimmie da Sunshine and cheep layed back life that is FLORIDA!

Here are the tour dates and venues if you live in one of these cities and want to see me and a great band.

25 Mar 2009 8:00 P
Hensely’s Flying Elephant w/ Frank Turner & Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts Carlsbad (San Diego), California
26 Mar 2009 8:00 P
Viper Room w/ Frank Turner & Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts West Hollywood, California
27 Mar 2009 8:00 P
The Blank Club w/ Frank Turner & Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts San Jose, California
28 Mar 2009 8:00 P
Thee Parkside w/ Frank Turner & Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts San Francisco, California
30 Mar 2009 8:00 P
Backspace w/ Frank Turner Portland, Oregon
31 Mar 2009 8:00 P
Flying M Boise, Idaho
1 Apr 2009 6:00 P
Club SHO (EARLY SHOW) Salt Lake City, Utah
1 Apr 2009 9:00 P
Bar Deluxe (LATE SHOW) w/ Frank Turner Salt Lake City, Utah
2 Apr 2009 8:00 P
Marquis Theater w/ Frank Turner Denver, Colorado
3 Apr 2009 8:00 P
Replay Lounge Lawrence, Kansas
4 Apr 2009 8:00 P
The Door Dallas, Texas

Ian Vs. Nature…?

So i went on a little Nature Hike the other day in Dutch Harbor AK.  Little did I know that in Alaska a Hike means a MOUNTAIN CLIMB!  Snagged a few pics from the top of what I’d Call a Mountain, I guess its just a Hill in these parts.

Here is my view of port from the highest point I went to, about 800ft lol.

View from the top!

 Just a little idea of the area.  Im not really a nature lover but this was nice after a month onboarb a 200ft vessel. 

No Big Deal

While up at the top of our hill we looked down and saw a litte gorge where the mountains looked like the just died off and my Co-worker said he bets there is a river there.  So he wants to hike to it, and it looks a mile away and I am quite exhausted from the mountain climbing ive been doing but I agree.  And sure enough there was with a beautiful waterfall leading to it.  I sat for a while there.  Again, not a real nature lover but probably the most beautiful thing ive seen on a walk. 

Waterfall

Now unfortunatly the camera just doesnt capture the sites ive seen in Alaska.  Everything is much bigger and nicer than my photographic skills can pick up on camera.  The river was beautiful and though tough to get to it was nice to walk along and lose sight of the industry that is Dutch Harbor.  Now my co-worker says we should walk to town and get a beer.  Hells yeah, im way into that, but I ask “Isnt that like hours away”.  And he replys “Nah, just around the corner”.  BS!  We ended up walking forever but it ended up being a nicer day than they usually see in Summer.  Heres a pic of our walk and the kind of day it was.

What a day

After my exhausting but awesome day we made it to town and it was all worth it.  The saying goes “There is a hot girl behind every tree in Dutch Harbor”.  You’d get this joke because there are but 4 trees in all of Dutch Harbor.  I saw these 4 trees on my hike, and sure enough, there were 4 cuties at the bar including the undisputed hottest girl in Dutch Harbor, a bartender at the Unisea Bar.  And yes, it was all worth it once I had a beer and a chance to talk to a GIRL!

I know, i need a haircut and a shave.

 

Pardon the horrible facial hair, its a family joke.  When i get back to the lower 48 Im getting a haircut and a shave.

I have about 7 days left at sea and then I get on that Tiny Airplane back to Anchorage, then to Seattle.   After about a week of work in Seattle, if the time meets up, ill be meeting up with Look Mexico and spending a week on tour with the best dudes ever.  

Expect Ian Kutch to return to Orlando around the 1st week of April.  I wanna see everyone!  I Miss you all.

For your enjoyment.

Here is the website of a pro photographer who also work as a comercial fisherman in the Bering Sea. Hes a crabber and hes got a few photos from his time working out here. I give you this because with his camera that probably cost about 10x more than mine does, he captures the waters about 10x better than me. So check out some “gnarly” waves on the F/V Rollo and a few of the crew. He takes a couple funny ones like the one Tittled “Loneliness”. There also is a picture of The Farwest Leader in some ice, and if you recall that was a boat i was on.

And now, for your internet Lurking and Time Killing Pleasure… i give you Corey Arnold

Thank you Andy Scott for finding this and sending it to me, its awesome.  You can see Andy’s website here for he is a photographer, video editor, and awesome dude.

Videos

So I am giving this a shot, Dont know if it will work. This should be a Video of the Deck Crew from The Bountiful, the first boat I went on. This is the boat that they let me do whatever I wanted. I got to do pretty much every job that these guys are doing in this video.

Trip 1 from Ian Kutch on Vimeo.
If they dont show up Embeded in the post, just click the link and you can watch them there.

This second video is from the Barbara Jean which was my 3rd boat but was set up exactly the same as the Farwest Leader (my 2nd). This is just some normal fishing in somewhat sloppy weather.

Trip 2 from Ian Kutch on Vimeo.

NOTE: The guy working the Block (Where the pot is being pulled from) as he is striking some poses for you guys.

This is from the same boat but a few days later when weather got real bad. Keep in mind that 10 mins later when we reached the next string of pots, I had to go out and work in this.

Rough Weather from Ian Kutch on Vimeo.

WARNING: This might make you sick if you are squimish: This last one is from the boat that I am currently On. This is Hung, who I work with everyday. I just wanted to show you how much of a badass he is. Here he is Fileting a Cod extreemly fast and very smooth. Such a badass.

Filet-o-Cod from Ian Kutch on Vimeo.

So Im no Photographer but…

Here are some Pictures I plucked off my camera because I thought they were nice. Just some cool views and interesting sights. I dont have a nice camera for taking good pictures but maybe I can make some of my Photographer friends jealous of the photo ops ive had! 😉

Night Time in Dutch Harbor

Across the bay in Akutan

Thats an Otter in the Water behind the boat.

Sunrise at sea with some birds interupting.

The Beautiful Bountiful, A very Nice day at sea.

Eye Ball.

 

Im going to try to get some videos of some Deck work on the Pot boats and some rough weather.  As of right now I can’t find a way to Upload AVI files, but when I find a way around that problem I will get those up.  In the mean time, let me know what you think of these pics and there are a few of my face on my Facbook. 

We are at 38 days left at sea if my boss keeps me out for my full contract.  I am thinking itll be more like 25 days before she sends me to Seattle.  From there It’ll be a little time with the Look Mexicans on the West Coast and then Back to Orlando.

Miss you all, back to work.  3 days off in the past 52!  Leave me some love!