Johnathan Hillstrand changed the Time Bandit’s plan during the August 21 Deadliest Catch episode after O.J. Ganuelas learned that his father had died. Hillstrand took the boat to Saint Paul Island so Ganuelas could fly home, putting the crew’s work aside for the transfer.
Ganuelas had not told Hillstrand about the death before the course change. His father had just turned 70, and the boat was still working through a season with 35,000 more pounds left to catch and $200,000 worth of gear on the line.
Saint Paul Island transfer
Hillstrand chose Saint Paul Island for the handoff because the harbor was frozen over and the Time Bandit was already dealing with ice. He worried the ice could puncture the boat, but the crew still got Ganuelas off for a charter flight home.
The transfer came while the Time Bandit was 360 miles from Dutch Harbor. Hillstrand even considered limping back there, but Saint Paul Island was the route he used to get Ganuelas ashore after the news.
Ice on the Time Bandit
The trip was not a clean diversion. The Time Bandit got stuck when the buoys got stuck, and Hillstrand told his crew to use a separate line and a hydraulic power hauler to pull the tank free.
That left the crew working in frozen conditions while one of their own was leaving after a family death. The boat still had to keep moving, and the ice created the kind of problem that could have damaged the Time Bandit before the crew could finish the transfer.
Deadliest Catch and the dock
Elsewhere in Deadliest Catch and, Sig Hansen chased hybrids that could bring in an additional 30 percent. Clark Pederson joined him in the wheelhouse to talk through how to separate the tanks, and the Northwestern crew planned to drain the tank and build a barrier with wooden planks and nets.
One of the boards came out during the process, and the team had to start over. Rick Shelford was also hunting hybrids, while Sophia "Bob" Nielsen named the incoming string 2.0 and called it “the better refined version because I did it.”
For Ganuelas, the immediate change was simple: he left the Time Bandit and headed for a flight home. For Hillstrand, the job was to get him ashore without losing the boat to ice on the way there.
