Meet The Crew
Keith Colburn
Born March 10, 1963
In the winter of 1985, Keith, a Lake Tahoe ski bum was looking for a change and at 22 years of age jumped on a plane with his lifelong best friend Kurt Frankenberg. Together they landed in Kodiak, Alaska with no experience, a tent and $50 dollars. With only the romantic vision of working at sea and the rumor of big pay-days, Keith was determined to try something new and exciting. He started as a true greenhorn on the Alaska Trader, a 135 foot crabber/tender.
The hook was set instantly. The fishing lifestyle and camaraderie of being part of a crew working in and against the elements captured him immediately. While initially looking only for adventure in Alaska’s unknown waters, Keith found plenty of that, but also something unexpected. A career. In 1988, he became a full share deck hand on the Wizard. He earned his USCG 1600 ton Mates license in 1990 and moved from the deck to the pilot house. In 1992, he received his 1600 ton Masters (Captain) license and has remained there as the skipper.
In 2002 Keith purchased the 100’ crabber F/V Sirene (pronounced Sea-Wren), but continued to operate the Wizard. In 2004, he sold the fishing rights for the Sirene in the Federal Buy Back, a fleet reduction program. When the fleet down sized in 2005 from 250 crabbers to 80 under a new Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) system, Keith purchased the Wizard, but without its valuable IFQs.
Today, Keith continues as the Captain and now owner of the Bering Sea’s premier crab vessel the F/V Wizard which will be featured on this year’s reality TV Series Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel.
Florence Colburn
Born March 30, 1960 in Marseille, France
Florence is highly involved in every off-boat aspect of the business including the on-going politics of the Crab Program as well as the administrative demands brought about by the enormously complex Crab Rationalization Program.
Working together with Keith, they balance raising their 2 children Caelan, 10 and Sienna, 8 with managing their business.
Crabbing under the new program has added an immense amount of year round administrative work. Whether balancing the books for the Alaska Crab Producers cooperative (most vessels now fish as part of harvest cooperatives) and its 2 fishing vessels, or scheduling for the boat, Florence and Keith work as a team.
Having met in Lake Tahoe, the two struck up a romantic relationship over 20 years ago. Florence admits to chasing down Keith, who back then was a rather untamed, cantankerous fisherman. She made a huge sacrifice giving up a career in glacial geology and climatology in order to become life long partners, and a fisherman’s wife. Through years of weathering the highs and lows of crabbing, as well as the long extended absences while Keith was working in Alaska sometimes for months at a time, Florence and Keith have shared a special bond as partners in both life and business.
Monte Colburn
Born in 1964
Monte joined his brother in Alaska and began fishing in 1987 after arriving on St Paul Island in the dead of winter, onboard the 110’ F/V Juno, a partner vessel to the Alaska Trader. His first year in Alaska was a marathon working over 10 months before coming home. From the very first day in Alaska, Monte’s career has been one adventure after another.
Monte lives with his wife Catherine, and son Gregory in the Lake Tahoe town of Brockway, CA where they purchased the Colburn’s childhood home.
In 1988, he joined Keith aboard the 155’ F/V Wizard as a full share deck hand. When Keith took over in the wheelhouse, Monte became deck boss. Monte earned his USCG Mates license in 1992 and upgraded to a Masters 1600 ton in 1995. From 1992-1995, Keith and Monte operated as relief Captain and First Mate. In 1995, Keith and Monte began operating the Wizard full time together as Captain, and Relief Captain/Mate.
Monte took command of the F/V Sea Fisher in 1998, and then the F/V Norseman in 2001. During these years Monte, and Keith were very successful working together as partner boats.
Monte took the helm of the F/V Sirene working on an oil spill clean up in Unalaska. He provided support to the many vessels that participated in the 11 month clean up project after the 400 foot cargo freighter Selandang Ayu ran aground near Dutch Harbor in December 2004.
Today, Monte is First Mate for Keith, and Captain when Keith heads south.
Gary Soper
Born November 11th, 1962 in Homestead Florida
Gary has lived most of his life near the ocean. He moved to Alaska as a boy and began fishing early in life. Gary lives with his wife and two children in Anchorage, Alaska.
Known as "Soper" on board the vessel, Gary is a full time professional crabber, and currently serves as deck boss and First Mate. Gary holds a USCG master License.
Gary has been with the boat for over 20 years, during which he worked as a deck hand alongside both Keith and Monte. He is the guy who runs the deck and drives the boat at night when the Wizard operates round the clock. He also maintains and manages both the deck and the gear (crab pots).
Soper is the consummate fisherman, a bit grizzled and quiet, wearing tattoos of a tall ship on one arm, and an anchor on the other. To Keith, the anchor is synonymous with what Soper represents onboard, “The Anchor”, the driving component to the success of the Wizard. He has helped build the business with unwavering dedication. As a long-time crew member and friend, Gary is part of the heart and soul of the Wizard.
During the summer, Soper fishes salmon in Bristol Bay. His lifelong dream of sailing the world and providing for his family keep him driven. Now 45, that dream comes closer to reality with every good season onboard the Wizard.
Lenny Lekanoff
Born in 1959
Lenny was born and raised in Unalaska, Alaska (Dutch Harbor) before the days when air service and the Bering Sea fisheries turned Unalaksa-Dutch Harbor into the USA’s #1 fishing port. Eight of his nine brothers and sisters were brought into the world by a midwife.
Lenny is a Native American Russian Aleut, whose family has deep roots on the island of Unalaska going back over a century. The Aleut culture has a rich and diverse history of fishing on the Aleutian chain, and Lenny’s family to this day maintains their heritage by smoking and drying Salmon every year.
Raised as a devout Russian Orthodox, Lenny has a wife and daughter and very large extended family. You pretty much can’t go anywhere in Unalaska without running into one of the Lekanoffs, many of whom have lived their entire lives on Unalaska Island. Lenny’s father, Nikolai, is 81 and has been the caretaker of the Church of the Holy Ascension for over 45 years. Parts of the church were built in 1825, and it is one of the oldest in the United States. It is in the National Register of Historic Places.
The opportunities to fish professionally presented themselves early in life for Lenny and for over 25 years he’s made his living fishing the waters of the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands.
A professional crabber Lenny joined the Wizard crew after a previous vessel that he crewed on exited the fishery with the sale of it’s fishing history into the federal Buyback program.
Lenny is in charge of all the maintenance and up-keep of all the ships systems from the engine room to the forepeak, as well as working as a deck hand full time onboard the Wizard.
Crosby LeVeen
Born November 17th, 1980
Hailing from Manchester, Maine, Crosby has one brother and two sisters. He is 26 years old and very, very single. Crosby came to Alaska in June 2001 to start his fishing career in South Naknek (Bristol Bay). In his own words, “I came to Alaska to see what fishing was about. My biggest concern was that I was afraid I would be eaten by bears”!
Back for his second year on the Wizard, and stepping into the full share role vacated by Art.
Crosby was still pretty green at the start of the 2006 red king crab season and had only one derby crab season under his belt. However, his fishing experience gained in other fisheries has him on the fast track to being a full share hand in the Bering Sea. He started fishing Bristol Bay salmon, and gained his first command in 2006. His debut as a Captain on the 32” gill netter the F/V Claude M Bristol was filmed in a National Geographic documentary Cowboys of the Sea. He has been very busy outside of fishing, becoming a graduate of the University of Vermont and traveling throughout Central America, Australia, and Europe.
Travis Lofland
Frustrations with the IFQ program lead to an unsettled departure from the Wizard in 2006.
Travis is back onboard the Wizard for the opilio, and tanner seasons after a year and a half hiatus from fishing.
Having worked for both Monte onboard the F/V Norseman, and with the Wizard crew, Travis is a full share crewman, good all around deckhand and ship mate.
Travis’ good nature, free spirit, and outgoing personality are all positive attributes and welcomed back onboard. A consummate bachelor, Travis was born and raised in Lynden, Washington. He is currently building a home in Kona, Hawaii.
Jason Moilanen
Born May 22nd 1973 in Aberdeen WAy
Jason (“ Moi” as he prefers to be called) graduated from Central Washington University with a degree in graphic design. This year will be his first year in Alaska, and in the fishing industry. Moi has been working in the construction industry. The labor intensive drywall industry and his athleticism should help for a first year man.
The obstacles Moi faces trying to break in as a true green horn at 34 years of age are huge. The self-described “Old Bastard” is in for the ride of his life. His drive and determination to succeed are buoyed by the dream of owning his own charter fishing boat where paying customers can come “ south of the border where I can relax in the sun, and charge for the beer.”
In his free time Moi is an avid sportsman, and hunter, regularly hunting in the western states for elk, deer, or in Moi’s words “anything with fur on it.”
Moi’s personality, humor, and easy to get along with style should be a perfect fit for the Wizard team.
Lynn Guitard
Born September 23rd, 1985
At 22 years of age the kid on the boat, Lynn, resides in Olympia, WA. He graduated from Thurston High School in 2004. Lynn’s father, Marty, fished in the 1970’s during the king crab heyday and the stories he told his son over the years sparked an interest in giving the Bering Sea a shot. Lynn has been working the summer months out of Dutch Harbor since he was 14 years old with his uncle and father onboard the F/V Seahawk and F/V Miss Amber fishing for halibut. The 2007 king crab season will be Lynn’s first job during the winter months onboard a big boat in the Bering Sea.
A family friend of Lenny Lekanoff, Lynn has the pressure of knowing that Lenny has taken a gamble recommending him for the job. If being a green horn in the Bering Sea isn’t enough, Lynn has the added pressure of worrying about letting his family and friend down.
Lenny’s not about to let that happen. Having been trained the old school way, Lenny and the Wizard crew aren’t about to cut any slack to the two new guys. In Lenny’s words with respect to Lynn, “ If the kid’s going to crack, I’m going to be the one to do it.”
Lynn is a single guy, and spends a lot of time in Olympia with his family, mother Linda, and younger brother Billy.
Extended Crew Members
Art Peterson
Born July 15th, 1973
Art is 34 years old, a bachelor, and currently works most of the year in Alaska. The 2007 fishing year was hectic, and non-stop for Art. Currently on a well deserved leave from the Wizard to pursue, among other things, the Puget Sound salmon fishery. A graduate from Oregon State University, Art wrestled at the Division 1 school before starting his career as a fisherman. Art works the summer months fishing his halibut and black cod IFQs. He also owns and operates a 32” Bristol Bay salmon boat the Vigilant that he fishes with his brother. When he’s not fishing he’s based out of Vashon Island, WA.
Nick Maurer
Born December 15th, 1984
Nick was raised in San Diego, CA with his two brothers and sister. Nick got onboard as a green horn crabber and his first opilio season in 2004 was one of the last crab derby seasons. He hit it BIG when most of the fleet came in with less than 150,000 pounds, yet Nick and the Wizard delivered over 400,000 lbs, and were the #1 crabber in the Bering Sea.
During most of the summer months you can find Nick working with his family out of San Diego on the family sport fishing charter boat the Holiday. The Holiday specializes in long range live aboard charters targeting dorado, tuna, and other big game fish off the coasts of Baja and Mexico.
Nick is currently working toward a USCG license in San Diego, and working fall and winter charters. You can see more of Nick on his family web page, dalofamily.zoomshare.com, and also their vessel’s web page at holiday.choicesportfishing.com