Among the few marine professions that purse a man's technical skills and value very high, maritime piloting perhaps is in a class of its own. In this career, the pilot is entrusted to maneuver vessels through some of the most challenging and congested waterways while ensuring seamless integration between shipboard operations and port infrastructure.
The San Francisco Bar Pilots are one of the important cogs in our supply chain wheel. They are tasked with boarding the vessels eleven miles west of the Golden Gate Bridge via a rope ladder often in rough seas and taking control of the vessels en route to the Port of Stockton. Once on the bridge of the ship, the Pilot oversees navigation and ensures the safe passage of ships into the Bay and through the Delta until it is secured alongside its berth at the Port. Without these Pilots the...
The Making of a Bay Pilot
Allen Garfinkle, Executive Director, Board of Pilot Commissioners, San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun Bays
Professional mariner Captain Allen Garfinkle, will highlight the role of maritime pilots in waterborne commerce on San Francisco Bay, including how one becomes a maritime pilot, dangers of the job and common myths about piloting on the Bay. Captain Garfinkle is the Executive Director of the state level authority that trains, licenses and regulates those pilots....
