The Wizard Battles Typhoon Nori as Injuries Mount and Crab Hauls Falter on Deadliest Catch

In a grueling episode of Deadliest Catch, Captain Keith Colburn and the crew of the F/V Wizard face the wrath of Typhoon Nori, a ferocious storm churning up 25- to 45-foot seas in the Bering Sea. The relentless weather, combined with a string of crew injuries and disappointing bairdi crab hauls, pushes the team to their physical and emotional limits as they race to meet their quota before the season’s end. With time running out and morale sinking, Keith’s strategic alliance with Captain Johnathan Hillstrand of the Time Bandit sparks a turnaround, delivering a hot streak of red king crab that reignites hope.

As the episode opens, Keith preps his crew to haul bairdi pots in treacherous conditions, emphasizing safety in the face of towering waves. “This is as bad as weather as we haul in,” he warns, instructing the crew to “haul and hide” between pots, seeking shelter to avoid being swept overboard. The seas, stacking up to 30 feet and growing, make every task perilous. “Crab fishing is dangerous. Leave it on a flat calm day. Then you start stacking up 30-foot seas, and it gets incredibly dangerous,” Keith explains, admitting the conditions are beyond his comfort zone.

The crew’s efforts are hampered by poor bairdi hauls, with pots yielding low numbers of crab. “Not a lot of numbers. Looking pretty opie-like right now,” Keith laments, referring to the less valuable opilio crab. A 15-foot wave slams crewman Tyler Gateman into the launcher, injuring both his knees and neck. “He’s hurting. If he says he’s hurting, he’s hurting,” Keith notes, but Tyler insists on pushing through, saying, “I would never leave my brothers behind.” Despite his resolve, Keith shuts down operations temporarily, wary of the 100% injury rate in crab fishing. “It’s like professional football. You come out here, you know you’re going to get injured at some point. The question is just how bad,” he reflects.

The storm intensifies, with waves reaching 25-30 feet and sharpening into “nasty” swells. Another crewman, Freddy Maugatai, becomes the storm’s next victim when a 25-foot wave slams him into the launcher, injuring his leg and hip. Keith, visibly concerned, inspects Freddy’s injuries, urging him to sit and rest. “You can’t really be indestructible, right?” Keith says, balancing concern with the need to keep fishing. Freddy, ever resilient, insists he’s fine, but Keith remains cautious, knowing the crew is stretched thin.

The situation worsens when greenhorn Grael suffers a severe injury, dislocating his kneecap after colliding with the bait station during a boat roll. Keith and his brother, relief captain Monte “Mouse” Colburn, confront Grael, who admits this is a recurring issue from a previous injury at age 14 requiring a knee replacement. “Why did you not alert me to this before you took this job?” Keith demands, frustrated by Grael’s lack of disclosure. With Grael unable to work, Keith faces a critical shortage, lamenting, “We’re barely into this trip, and we just went a man down.” The crew moves Grael to his bunk, but Keith’s anger is palpable: “I feel like you’ve been dishonest to me and the rest of this crew.”

With morale low and injuries mounting, deckhand Kevin Stafford’s ongoing back injury further complicates matters. Five days after his injury, Kevin struggles to keep up, moving “like Frankenstein” and failing to contribute effectively. Keith, exasperated, confronts him: “I just watched you for five pots in a row do nothing except stare at the bait.” Kevin’s lack of effort becomes a liability, prompting Keith to arrange for a new deckhand, Robert “Get ‘er Done,” to join the crew. With Typhoon Nori approaching, Keith coordinates a high-risk crew transfer with Captain Elliot Neese, who agrees to ferry Robert from Dutch Harbor despite 20-foot seas. “We got a window of weather where we can get Robert on the boat,” Keith says, emphasizing the urgency before the storm makes the transfer impossible.

The crew builds a makeshift raft to execute the transfer, ensuring it’s “idiot-proof” for safety. Keith intercepts Elliot’s vessel, the Saga, and successfully brings Robert aboard, bolstering the team’s strength. “Sooner we get another set of hands out here, the better,” Keith notes, as the crew prepares to resume fishing.

Amid the chaos, Keith’s fortunes shift when he pivots to red king crab, leveraging a strategic alliance with Johnathan Hillstrand. After losing 50% of his king crab quota to an ex-partner, Keith calls on Johnathan to block out a competitor, codenamed “Roadrunner.” Johnathan sets his pots along Keith’s suggested lines, and the gamble pays off. The Time Bandit pulls pots with 50-70 crabs, while the Wizard hits a hot streak, hauling 90-125 crabs per pot. “That’s phenomenal fishing,” Keith exults, as the Wizard amasses 33,000-34,000 pounds in just four days. Johnathan, grateful for Keith’s tip, says, “Thank you, Keith. I’m shaking, dude,” as their alliance proves mutually beneficial. “Probably the best alliance ever formed,” Johnathan quips, dubbing it stronger than the “League of Justice.”

Despite the injuries and brutal weather, Keith’s persistence and collaboration with Johnathan turn the tide. With the Wizard on track for a potential 100,000-pound trip—the shortest in Bering Sea history—Keith pushes his crew to keep hauling. “No reason to slow down now,” he urges, as the red king crab continues to flow. The episode underscores the high stakes of crab fishing, where fate, luck, and alliances can mean the difference between disaster and success in the face of nature’s fury.

The Wizard’s battle with Typhoon Nori and its toll on the crew highlight the relentless dangers of the Bering Sea, as documented in Deadliest Catch. Keith’s leadership, tempered by past medical emergencies and close calls, keeps safety first while chasing the elusive catch needed to salvage the season.