Red Boat Thrill Ride

As a 20-foot wave sweeps across our starboard rail Captain Sten yells into the hailer, “Hang on!” I grab for a hold and my feet leave the floor. The curling wave came from an unexpected direction and caught us by surprise.  It snuck up on us in the dark. The captain immediately checks with the crew to make sure everyone is OK.  The crew responds with a noisy mixture of jubilation and relief.  Reassured that nobody was hurt or washed off the deck, Sten grabs the hailer again and announces that the Sea Star has finally arrived.

This year we are using the Sea Star as our “chase boat.”  It has been at sea all season, shooting the boat-to-boat shots that have become a regular part of Deadliest Catch and provided some of our most iconic images.  Producing on the Sea Star and shooting these images this year is our veteran co-director of photography Zac McFarlane.  He will be using a gyroscopically stabilized camera to film the North American crashing through waves and its men working on deck.  It is an exciting moment for all aboard.

Eric, Davin, John and Travis come up into the wheelhouse just as Zac asks if we can try something different — turn off the forward lights and chase his boat.  Sten says, “That’s crazy!”  However, he does it anyway.  With the lights off on our boat and all of the available light now coming from the Sea Star, backlighting every wave, we begin to see the ocean in a new way.  As we dive blindly into black troughs between the waves and rise to emerald and blazing white foam crests we all gasp at our new visual perspective.  Zac asks for us to move closer and Sten curses but responds anyway, pushing the throttles forward nervously.  Everyone in the wheelhouse starts hooting with each rise and fall of the craft, each experiencing the feeling that one gets during the big drops on a roller coaster in a spooky new way.

In the darkness I struggle to find my camera and turn it on.  It’s nearly impossible to hold a still image, but I manage to at least see Zac strapped onto a platform on the stern of his boat.  It is astounding to see how his boat is hitting waves, ripping off the tops and getting completely enveloped by spray as he attempts to film our vessel, only a hundred feet behind him.   In all of my career I have never seen a cameraman in a more extreme environment.  On the stern of the Sea Star, Zac is rolling camera, trying to hold still and staring into his eyepiece while both vessels rise and fall, completely disappearing between the waves.  With his eyes straining forward Captain Sten says, “He’s nuts!”  At first all I could do was respond, “Yes, he is!” Then I realized it was my turn. “Welcome to Deadliest Catch!” I added.

Photo: Marc Carter/DCL

Comments

[jen]

I am most displeased with this episode and the actions of a certain character. The guy punched a fish!@ You couldn't edit that out by any chance? Pointless animal brutality? I thought that was against the law.