SheSue Experience

Meet Kaya Johnson, a captain of the Portland Spirit, a riverboat dining cruise. Kaya grew up on the Great Lakes and has been sailing all his life. He was a rescue scuba diver for a time and spent 10 years in Florida as first mate on tall ships doing educational trips. He has been with the Portland Spirit for about 4 months. He had to go through extensive training and testing to get his license to pilot a boat the size of the Spirit.

It is 8:30am on a beautiful morning when I meet Kaya on the Spirit. We head up to the bridge. Kaya checks with the cruise manager and engineer for any news that he needs to be aware of. He relies on them to keep him informed of anything out of place. The cruise manager may have news about cruise passengers or events taking place on the boat.

Kaya then checks the cruise schedule, current river traffic, level of the river, events in the area, weather and anything that might affect the cruise. Once per week the boat goes through a drill of some sort such as man overboard. All of the crew must react appropriately as if it were a real occurrence.

The cruise manager gives Kaya a ship’s manifest for the cruise. This tells him the number of passengers, if there are large groups or celebrations and the roster of boat personnel. He checks to see who his crew is for the day, who will be handling the boat lines and who his overboard swimmer is. The line handlers are the crew who tie and untie the lines that hold the boat to the dock. The swimmer is the crew member responsible for water rescues if needed.

Next it’s time to do a walk through of the boat. He is checking for boat functions. He is looking for strange noises, smells, smoke, etc.; levels of potable water (drinking water) and working phones. I asked him who get the boat started. It is the job of the engineer to get the boat up and running and makes sure it is running smoothly.

It is finally time to let passengers on board. Captain Kaya heads to the top of the boarding ramp to greet each passenger and welcome them aboard. He makes small talk, answers questions, helps get groups ready for boarding photos and welcomes everyone on board. Kaya believes that being customer oriented is an important trait for a large boat captain.

Once everyone is on board, Kaya gives a speech about safety, where the rest rooms (head) are, where the life jackets are and how to put one on. Finally it is time to leave the dock. He heads out to the ‘wing station’. This is a small box outside of the bridge with a wheel, throttles for 2 engines and rudder control. He relies on his line handlers to untie the boat and get the loading ramp away from the boat. Once this is done, he calls out “All aboard”, blasts the horn, and then begins to move away from the dock. He keeps watch on the dock before heading out to the middle of the river.

At this point, he moves back onto the bridge where he takes up his place at the big wheel. There are two radios on the bridge; the coast guard and the bridge tenders. They remain on during the entire cruise, announcing any emergencies. The river current can affect steering dramatically, especially during the winter. Kaya also has studied and has to keep current on river charts to know where the channels are. According to Kaya, timing the cruise is one of the most difficult jobs. He sometimes has to just coast the boat to make the cruise last the right amount of time.

During the cruise, Kaya has a log book that needs to be completed. In it he records the cruise number, when he left port, when he turns the boat around, etc. During the latter half of the cruise, passengers can come up and visit him. He chats with them and answers their questions. Sometimes he will let them pilot the boat. Of course, I got a turn.

Finally it is time to return to dock. Boats don’t have brakes on them. You don’t just slide into the dock and stop. He moves the boat slowly towards the dock, then ‘walks’ the boat, which means the boat moves sideways towards the dock. He does this by pushing one engine forward and 1 engine backwards. The engines are cut and the lines are tied. Another successful cruise.

Kaya heads down to bid all the passengers a thank you and come again. After completing his log book, his job is done. Kaya enjoys checking with all the crew before heading back to the office.

I had to ask him if doing this ever gets boring. I mean he goes the same route all the time. But he says the water changes, different water traffic, events downtown and the variety of passengers all make each cruise different. He takes his job seriously, but he enjoys what he’s doing.

What’s your job?