Watch This Insane Video of What Happened to The Wizard in 'Deadliest Catch'
Updated April 20 2021, 9:56 p.m. ET
Since Deadliest Catch's Season 17 premiere airs tonight, you might want to be brought up to speed on what happened with The Wizard recently. If you're a fan, then you may have heard the boat took a massive beating, and Capt. Colburn has been extremely willing to share what happened (it was so intense, his brother Monte nearly died).
What happened to The Wizard on 'Deadliest Catch'?
According to Capt. Colburn, The Wizard was hit by a massive wave that blew out the windows, and flooded the interior. This happened mid-March. Monte was on the boat with the camera crew when the wave "took a window out on the port side of a wheelhouse, tore up into the ceiling, took out the battery charges. And over a foot of water came across the dash, as it took out everything from the autopilot, steering, radars, sounders, everything down, gone...," the captain said.
Luckily, the boat still had power. "We still had a main engine. We still had everything. We just had nothing to drive the boat with the wheelhouse. It took them about five hours to get the boat in a position to where he had steering. He had minimal autopilot capabilities and navigational capabilities in order to get the boat in," Capt. Colburn told TV Shows Ace.
He continued, "Monte proceeded the town on a 15 and 30 minute watch with the Coast Guard, as the Cutter Stratton intercepted them, boarded them. The guys were able to get more equipment up and running and get radar working, to where we were navigationally sound. The Coast Guard gave him the blessing." Now, the wheelhouse has been "completely gutted."
He later tweeted, "Wizard took a hell of a wave today when we were loaded and stacked! USCG in contact. Windows blown, wheelhouse flooded, some electronics fried. CREW IS FINE! Boat limping back to Dutch. Keep Monte and the crew in your thoughts."
The next day, he updated everyone, writing, "As of 01:00 local AK time the boat is enroute to DH. eta is 40 hours from now. Position 57-15N 175-24W. Enough electronics operational to get back. Window boarded up. Crew is soggy but safe."
And if you want to see the damage to The Wizard, Capt. Colburn posted a video to Twitter. It's pretty wild! But ultimately, we're glad the crew is safe. The Captain wrote, "My sincerest thanks to all of you who have sent me your heartfelt well wishes. I read them all. Now, anybody want to see the damage from the [wave emoji]? Health and boat Wizard news! We both took a beating!"
"Here's what I'm looking at. Total carnage! Total devastation from that wave. I'm feeling better. Still on the O2," Capt. Colburn said in the video (the oxygen he's referring to is the oxygen tube he was put on due to his COVID diagnosis).
It looks like The Wizard has been fixed up, luckily.
Watch the new season of Deadliest Catch every Tuesday on the Discovery Channel at 8 p.m. EST.