The ferry to and from San Francisco is one of the most reliable methods of transportation in the Bay Area. You know when it arrives and when it departs. You know where it’s going and how long it’ll take to get there.
Captain Jason Covell in the wheelhouse of the M/V Scorpio on the Baylink Ferry run from Vallejo to San Francisco. Photo by Matt Larson
By Matt Larson
Published: December, 2011
The ferry to and from San Francisco is one of the most reliable methods of transportation in the Bay Area. You know when it arrives and when it departs. You know where it’s going and how long it’ll take to get there. But sometimes, it’s easy to overlook the talented professionals who make the ferry system so reliable. Captain Jason Covell is the focus of our second installment of “Who’s at the Helm?”
An El Sobrante native and current Benicia resident, Covell has been a working member of the Blue & Gold Fleet for the past 20 years. As a senior captain—ranking sixth of about 30—Covell currently mans the morning helm for the Vallejo Baylink Ferry. He also volunteers as the Vallejo representative, or shop steward, for the Masters, Mates and Pilots union.
“I used to work for an investment banking firm,” said Covell, remembering his pre-helming days. “Growing up I wanted to be a lawyer like my dad and my uncle. I remember my uncle sitting me down with a phone book and showing me the number of lawyers in the yellow pages,” he said. “I just wanted to do something different.”
While at the banking firm, Covell also found part-time work as a bartender on the ferryboats. “I thought I was going to go the investment banking route,” he said. Until, of course, a full-time deckhand position opened up on the ferryboat. “It was a pretty easy decision to go from investment banking to working on a boat,” he said, and it wasn’t long before Covell started pursuing a captain’s license. “Once I was here for a while I knew I wanted to be a captain.”
Covell’s first day at the helm was memorable. The scheduled captain had called in sick that day, and about 10 minutes prior to departure Covell was informed that he was the replacement. “We just didn’t want you to be nervous,” was how he heard the news. “I came in to be a deckhand that day,” Covell said. “I had 10 minutes to be nervous. I didn’t even have my uniform, I was wearing deckhand coveralls.” By this time, however, Covell had already attained his captain’s license, was in training and had been cleared to drive solo.
Rising through the ranks from deckhand to senior captain, Covell never graduated college. He’s currently taking classes online at Solano Community College in pursuit of a business degree. “It’s something to do,” he said. “But I do have sort of a side business; I’m into photography.” Covell can often be seen with his camera, and his photos have been published in the magazines Fast Ferry International and Pacific Maritime. He does a lot of nautical work, but specializes in landscapes and outdoor photography. “I’d love to put together a coffee table book.”
On Covell’s coffee table you’d probably find a bottle of wine. “I’m a hobby winemaker,” he said. “I’m on my fourth vintage. We get our grapes from the Carneros region in Napa Valley.” He makes a Pinot Noir with some close friends called Amicizia Invitta, or “Unconquerable Friendship,” and a Zinfandel called Off Brioche, named after his dog. “She would chew on the air locks while the wine was in secondary fermentation and I was constantly saying ‘off Brioche,’” he explained. “I was also cheesy and named my winery Spoiled Guinea after a quote in The Godfather.”
A family man with a wife and 13-year-old daughter, as well as a 4:15 a.m. setting on his alarm clock, Covell enjoys the early morning shift. “It gives me the ability to be home in the afternoon for my daughter when she gets home from school, and also to have dinner ready before my wife gets home.”
He takes care of his family at home and transports hundreds of lives at work. As captain, not a minute goes by that he doesn’t think of his passengers and crew. “I’m always concerned with safety,” he said. “It’s stressful at times but I do enjoy it, that’s why I keep coming back every day.”
Be sure to check out the next issue of Bay Crossings to meet our next captain at the helm.
