I have open oppourtunities with both Washington State Ferries and a highly reputable tug company in the PNW. They are both “both foot in the door” type jobs with a lot of potential. I have 1600 ton mate ocean and AB limited, no towing endorsement. These are great oppourtunities, but I just can’t decide. I’ve akways wanted to work on tugs but have never had an oppourtunity. WSF employees claim its best time ever to be hired and the thought of coming home every night has great appeal. I’d be AB with the tug and OS with the ferries, but ferries claim I could be an AB right away, no guarantees tho.
I agree with both. Tugs all the way. You wanna know where you’ll be able to work if you ever get tired of WSF and want to make a change? Maybe another ferry, if you’re lucky. Wanna know where you’ll be able to work if you ever get tired of tugs and want to make a change? Damn near anywhere you want. You will become a much more skilled, much more useful, much more well-rounded mariner after you’ve put some time in decking on a tug. Do the ferry thing when you retire, there’ll be plenty of time for that.
f [QUOTE=Robert Motherwell;157033]I have open oppourtunities with both Washington State Ferries and a highly reputable tug company in the PNW. They are both “both foot in the door” type jobs with a lot of potential. I have 1600 ton mate ocean and AB limited, no towing endorsement. These are great oppourtunities, but I just can’t decide. I’ve akways wanted to work on tugs but have never had an oppourtunity. WSF employees claim its best time ever to be hired and the thought of coming home every night has great appeal. I’d be AB with the tug and OS with the ferries, but ferries claim I could be an AB right away, no guarantees tho.
Thoughts. thank you[/QUOTE]
Depends on you. If you don’t give a shit about being a professional mariner, if you just want to suck on the governments tit(taxpayer), if you can see yourself mopping up piss and shit for the next 20 or so years until your govt. pension kicks in , oh I forgot, you will probably make captain before retirement(LOL) I say go for the ferry thing. However, if you are interested in developing professional skills, and being able to look at yourself each morning in the mirror, then tugs are the way to go. Towing is not the end all for everyone but it is a step along the way to being able to look back from wherever your ambition took you and smile at your accomplishments.
they have about 20 or so licensed people up for retirement in the next few years. I had 2 friends go work for wsf both chief mates they have both quit after 2 months. Most of the work is call-outs. You will need to have your pilotage done for all the routes before you can be paid as a mate there is no training mate wage just AB. They need people just have not figured a way to bring them up from what I have gathered from my friends who thought it was going to be a cushy gig
If I could do a ferry job where I were home at night most if the time, made decent money, had a govt pension, and not miss out on half of my life I would jump at the chance.
I just switched to tugs after being a ferry captain for 10 years. Starting out on deck of course, but making comparable money as an AB as I was as a senior captain at my ferry company. If I need extra cash I can moonlight on the ferries on my off time. As far as the “not missing out on half my life” thing… After running high speed catamarans 70-80 hours per week for a decade, I can definitely say that I am spending MORE time at home with my family on the 2/2 rotation… Just my two cents.
[QUOTE=fishyluke;157134]I just switched to tugs after being a ferry captain for 10 years. Starting out on deck of course, but making comparable money as an AB as I was as a senior captain at my ferry company. If I need extra cash I can moonlight on the ferries on my off time. As far as the “not missing out on half my life” thing… After running high speed catamarans 70-80 hours per week for a decade, I can definitely say that I am spending MORE time at home with my family on the 2/2 rotation… Just my two cents.[/QUOTE]
Good point. If you have to work all day 50 weeks a year at a 5 or 6 day a week job, you really don’t have time left to do much else except errands and chores. Of course there is sleeping with the hot girlfriend(s) every night.
There is a lot to be said for having 28 or even 60 days off at a time. It gives you time to actually do fun and interesting things.