[from the stabenow.com vaults, first posted February 11, 2004] So this is what we did last night. It’s about eleven-thirty, most of the ship has turned in for the night. I’m brushing my teeth and EO Tony Erickson knocks on the door to tell me we’ve caught a SAR case. I shoot up to the…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, first posted February 10, 2004] A boarding at first light, of 123-foot longliner fishing for Pacific cod. “This is the only place in the world you’d call that a small boat,” says XO Phil Thorne. “In any other fishery it would be illegal.” The swells were only five feet and the…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, first posted February 9, 2004] Man, I’m tired, and all I did was watch. More or less clear skies (what’s a little hail between friends?). We spent most of the day in the lee of St. George in the Pribilofs, waiting on weather. You should see the NOAA weather forecasts for…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, first posted February 8, 2004] Today we are on holiday routine as we do what the Coast Guard calls “box ops”, essentially running a repetitive route inside a box we draw on the radar, to remain in the lee of St. George Island (one of the Pribilofs) which is protecting us…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, first posted February 7, 2004] Turns out Ops officer Scott Littlefield wasn’t wrong about the weather, he was just a little previous. We got ours, 30 knot winds and fifteen foot seas, but I have to say, Petty Officer Frank Brown was right when he called the Alex Haley a Cadillac.…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, first posted February 6, 2004] Hello again from sunny (so far) southwest Alaska. We started the day with snow on the deck and fog. In the middle of the Unga Strait we came across a fishing vessel pulling cod pots, guys out on deck working the gear. “That there?” I said…
[from the stabenow.com vaults, first posted February 5, 2004] Hello from north of the Shumagin Islands! I’m writing from on board the USCGC Alex Haley. We left the dock yesterday morning, so smoothly it looks like we know what we’re doing. I think that would be CPO Ross at the conn, who also brought us…
Second of the guest blogs I wrote for 49 Writers, No Moose in June. — The absolute best part of a writer’s life is the research. I’ve written two thrillers, Blindfold Game and Prepared for Rage. For both novels I went on patrol with the US Coast Guard, first on Alex Haley for 16 days…
