LineTime.org : Guemes Island Ferry Committee

A Day On The Deck

Ferry Committee member, Dyvon Havens, spends a day with the Guemes Ferry crew. "I’m truly interested in learning what it’s like to work the Guemes.”

It’s 6 am and the lights in the ferry building are blazing. I open the door, and Ron Panzero and the morning crew are all there, donning orange vests, cross-checking ticket numbers from the previous night, a pink box of doughnuts sitting on the table. They greet me like I was one of them, no great fanfare, which makes me feel comfortable. The only instructions to the crew from Ron: “Act like she’s a trainee, show her how you do things, give her a spin at parking cars.” Wanting to assure the crew, I say, “Just want you guys to know I’m not here to spy or criticize. I’m truly interested in learning what it’s like to work the Guemes.”

Backtrack four weeks to a Guemes Ferry Committee meeting. I make the comment that it would be wonderful to spend a day on the boat, learning about what’s involved with crewing the boat. The Committee gives me their blessing to call Ron and ask. Ron’s eyes light up, and he schedules it. Later on I hear that when Ron told the crew, a few eyeballs rolled toward the heavens; but toward the end of my day on the boat, several of the crew thanked me for taking an interest in them and their work.

I look at the crew through different eyes now. I mean, I always had a lot of respect for them, but getting to know them as people raised my respect many notches. The complexity of their job is not evident when the only thing we see is from the inside of our car or the passenger cabin. I learned a lot more than can be told in a brief article, but here are a few things you might be interested in:

As a member of the Ferry Committee, I am red-faced over the fact that I did not know the gate goes down one minute before scheduled departure time. As most of us have experienced, that one minute can be a big one when you’re hurtling down Sixth, knuckles white, to catch the 7:00 pm on Saturday night. There are good reasons for this one-minute buffer. It takes at least that long to load that last car-- especially if it’s a tight squeeze-- to get the chocks set, to raise the skirt and ramp, to place the safety netting, to untie the lines, to communicate to the captain all is secure for departure. On a tight schedule, getting off to a late start can mess up the next several runs.

The crew did tell me that if they see someone running to the ferry just after the gate has gone down, they will probably wait, but some judgment is required here. It depends on how far away the person is, whether or not they need to buy a ticket, how fast they are moving, how long the gate has been down, and so on. My personal opinion is this: If we arrive at the ferry landing late, we should not expect to be boarded. We should not expect 22 carloads of people who arrived on time, and are already boarded, to be delayed for our own personal convenience. Most of all, we should not harass the crew, who are professionals and are doing their job.

Okay, now that’s off my chest, here are a few other interesting notes:

The clocks in the ferry building are set to atomic time. This is a time that all the world uses, to the second. It might be easiest to synchronize your watch to the ferry building clock, but you can also find the correct atomic time by going to www.atomictime.net. They have a phone number you can call (808-335-4363), but when I tried it, it was not useful.

Did you know the crew is required to leave several extra feet of space on the deck behind the school bus? They need to leave room for the rear emergency door to open.

Also, they have recently streamlined the way the school bus loads disembarking children on Guemes. Instead of backing the bus onto the span, the bus now waits in the designated parking spot at the left (west) side of the ramp. The children disembark and walk to the left to board the bus, thus improving vehicle unloading efficiency.Operating the ramp and apron is a little tricky. If the crew sets the apron for loading a large truck, for example, the setting is very different than for a car with a low bumper. When things are really hectic, they may not have time to run back to the controls and re-set the apron for your individual vehicle.

The mechanic (Bob) handles many tasks that we don’t see. We have an old boat, and when you think about it, there are very few down times due to mechanical failure. This is because Bob constantly is monitoring engine and equipment performance and doing preventive maintenance on a regular basis. Frequently these tasks must be done in the short intervals when the boat is not running, so between times, he works on developing cost spread sheets, fabricating parts, working with vendors, creating drawings of boat layout for crew training, and numerous other duties.

My observation is that crew members are outrageously courteous in the face of countless difficult situations. Just in a single run, I saw one guy try to cheat the purser out of money and another try persistently to talk her into a cheaper fare to the point where she invited him get out and measure for himself the length of his truck. She handled these incidents with diplomacy and ease. Crew members deserve our respect at all times.

Crew training is continual. In addition to new-crew training and monthly crew meetings, they have regular drills for man-overboard and fire emergencies.

The crew members are entitled to two 15-minute breaks and one 40-minute lunch break during a regular shift. They often do not get these breaks due to heavy traffic or glitches in the system.

Some of you saw me parking cars on the deck that day under the watchful supervision of a crew member. Just trust me when I say it’s a much trickier job than it appears.

There are porpoises in Guemes Channel! We watched them surfacing in the wake of the boat.

I’m so glad Ron Panzero afforded me the opportunity to ride the boat. It was an interesting and fun experience. I found every single crew member to have a positive attitude and a welcoming response to my visit. They are a very professional group who seem to truly like their work (of course the sun was out that day…). And you know that pink box of doughnuts? It didn’t even get opened in deference to the oatmeal cookies I brought. What a polite bunch of folks!

- Dyvon Havens