Ron Duckhorn President of Blue and Gold
Published: September, 2001
I am a local guy. I went to high school down the Peninsula. I went to Cal, both undergraduate and graduate school. When I got out of Cal, I went to work for the Kaiser company in Oakland, worked for them for 7 years and then following one of my favorite guys from Kaiser over to Crowley. I worked for Crowley for 18 years until they started shrinking their operations on the West Coast. Mr. Crowley wanted to to sell the passenger business, which he to as "talking cargo", he wanted to stay with containers and that line of business. So I knew the partners at Pier 39 and it was an opportunity for me to oversee the acquisition and then run the business. That’s what I have been doing for the last 5 years.
Blue and Gold has 300 employees. Roughly 20% of our business is basic ferry transportation, bringing commuters to and from work. The other 80% is in your tourism type of business, Alcatraz, Bay Cruise, Angel Island. Sausalito and Tiburon can be considered tourism too, except for the commute portion. We operate ferries from Sausalito, Tiburon, Angel Island, Vallejo, Oakland, Alameda. We ride charters at night with our boats. A a big chunk of our business is the Alcatraz contract, roughly a third of our business. And then of course bay cruises are a very important business to us. Probably the most profitable. All in all 4 million passengers on an annual basis and close to $30 million in revenue.
We operate 11 boats; and then there are 3 boats that are owned by the City of Vallejo and one owned by Oakland/Alameda. So all in all roughly 15 vessels.
I have 3 kids, ages are 25, 28 and 29. The 2 older ones are girls. The youngest is a boy and one of them lives in the Bay Area and the other two live in Oregon and Boise, Idaho. Two of them are teachers and one of them is in the internet business. I live in Mill Valley.
I take the ferry as often as I can. No as much as I’d like to because my hours are a little bit neurotic. I like get as close to the business as I can whenever I can.
John Colombard
Parking Valet
I’ve been at Scoma’s Fishermen’s Wharf for 10 years but altogether I’ve worked here at the Wharf over 30 years. I came here in my early twenties. It seems like a long time, but many other people have worked here longer than me. They’re here, they go, they come back.
You get all kinds of people. Foreigners, tourists, lost people. Lost in the psychic sense.
I’ve had people drive right off the dock, one time onto a docked fishing boat! The guy wasn’t drunk, either. He didn’t get hurt, but the boat sure did. We’ve had several cars go right into the Bay and no one has ever gotten hurt. People jump in and get ‘em out.
It gets cold and wet sometimes, freezing. I cover up best I can, go home and take a hot shower.
I make a good living. It’s O.K. for me. I got the fresh air. I’m fortunate. I’m 57. I’ve worked as a waiter, all kinds of things. I live in San Rafael and don’t mind the commute one bit.
John Colombard
