Vessel Master Greg McCulloch

Published: June, 2014

 

There’s a lot of commerce happening on the San Francisco Bay every day. Each vessel you see has a team of people communicating with each other to keep peace on the waterways. This month we are featuring Greg McCulloch, a “vessel master”—in other words, a captain—for Golden Gate Ferry. He currently mans the helm on the Golden Gate ferryboat, commuting in the mornings from Larkspur to San Francisco. 

 

“I’ve been a licensed captain for 35 years, since I was 20,” said McCulloch, who’s been working for Golden Gate Ferry for over 16 years. “I’ve worked on all the boats at one time or another.” 

 

Having grown up in Berkeley and now a Benicia resident, McCulloch has lived in the Bay Area for pretty much his whole life. “When I was a kid we had a couple sailboats, so I started out sailing on the Bay when I was pretty young,” he said. “Then, when I was about 14 I started working on weekends.” He found work on sports fishing charter boats during summers as a young teenager, which began his epic career. “I spent about 20 years commercial and sport fishing, including four years in Alaska from when I was 17 until I was 21.”

 

Over the years he has owned and operated a sports fishing business, worked as a marine surveyor and port engineer, has logged about 280 deliveries up and down the coast from Alaska to Mexico, and still sometimes works as a boat mechanic on his friends’ boats. For good measure, he also sometimes appears as a consultant and expert witness in maritime legal cases involving boating accidents. Suffice it to say, you’re in good hands with McCulloch at the helm. 

 

“The Bay gets a little bit rough sometimes in a storm, but nothing like the ocean,” said McCulloch. “These are nice ferry boats, state of the art, the high-speed catamarans are pretty high-tech and a pleasure to operate—sometimes maybe even fun.” After a lifetime of some of the most intense boating excursions one could imagine, McCulloch is happy with his current position. 

 

“I like watching the sun come up every morning, it’s a different experience every day. I never get tired of being on the Bay, just watching the water go by, looking at the birds, every once in a while seeing a whale,” he explained. “From being on the water my entire life I just don’t think I could do an office job. As many days as I’ve spent on the water I still enjoy being on the water very much.” 

 

And as you may expect, after all these years, McCulloch remains a true professional. “I do take my responsibility as a captain very seriously,” he said. “It’s a high priority for me to perform smooth landings. I know I’ve done my job well when I look in the cabin after a landing and some people are unaware we’re tied up to the dock.” 

 

Over the years, the biggest change in boating has been technology. “There’s a lot of new electronics and a lot of the controls are computerized—I would say it’s just a whole different experience,” said McCulloch. “Sometimes, when it’s really thick fog, we use the radar from the time we leave the dock to the time we land on the next ferry terminal. It’s literally like playing a video game.” 

 

It may sound stressful to some, but it’s nothing the captains can’t handle. “A lot of us captains came from different marine backgrounds,” McCulloch said. “Some drove tugboats, some were in the yacht industry, I was in the fishing industry—but we all bring a different experience to the table.” 

 

The captains may enjoy the ride almost as much as the riders. “The passengers that I have talked to just really look forward to the ride on the ferry,” said McCulloch. “It’s a relaxing ride, much better than the white-knuckle commute in the car. I think most people just really enjoy the whole experience.”