By Matt Larson
Published: August, 2013
Rusty Westgate, lead deckhand for Blue & Gold Fleet, is a San Francisco native who has proudly served its waterways for the past 27 years.
Westgate explains his appreciation for his job: "I used to be a meat cutter for Gallo Salame," he said. "I was in a cold factory, there were a lot of machines, and I was working from 5:30 p.m. to 1:30 in the morning." Once he caught sight of working on the Bay, he never looked back. "I was so happy when I got this job. Instead of being in a cold factory here I am on a beautiful boat on the Bay. It was almost like being on vacation, so I stuck with it."
In 1986, Westgate started with Blue & Gold as a ticket seller and soon became a deckhand under the most extreme of circumstances. "When the Loma Prieta earthquake came in 1989, I was just getting off a 9:30-5 shift at work. It hit at 5:04," he recalled. "I went to dispatch and they immediately put me on a boat. I stayed until 3 o’ clock in the morning, I think most of us did."
Over the recovery of the next few months, Westgate put in enough hours to become a professional deckhand. "I gained my seniority, so I changed careers from a ticket seller to a deckhand and I’ve been there ever since."
Today the ferry service in the Bay is better than ever, and he believes it is still growing. "I think we’re going to be on par with Sydney," said Westgate. "I’m pretty sure we’ll be getting more ferries. The Bay Area is a big waterway and, with all the congestion, they’re talking about running a ferry from Berkeley to Treasure Island to the Ferry Building, possibly from Redwood City up to San Francisco, and they just got the new run from South San Francisco to Oakland/Alameda." Westgate looks forward to working the new run for the first time.
"That’s what I like is the fact that we’re able to move around, change hours, change boats. Not too many jobs where you can do that," he said. "It’s never boring, it’s always exciting, always something new to see, people to talk to from all over the world," he continued. "I like being on the water; even on my days off what I enjoy the most is riding my bike along the waterfront."
Westgate has lived here all his life except for a couple years in high school, which he spent in Michigan. The move was certainly a climate change for young Westgate, and he came back as soon as he could. "It makes you appreciate the Bay Area, with all the microclimates," he said. "We don’t get extreme weather here; we probably live in the best place in the country."
You may have seen Westgate riding his mountain bike on his usual trek from Noe Valley to the Presidio to over the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito to Tiburon, "and If I have more energy I’ll continue around Paradise Drive over to Larkspur, take the Larkspur ferry back to the Ferry Building and ride all the way back home," he said. "It’s a good workout and it’s very scenic." He also enjoys lengthy trips on any one of his six motorcycles, venturing to Santa Cruz every other weekend in the summer and once every year or so to Las Vegas. "That’s my passion," he said. "Motorcycles and bicycles."
Between cycling through California and floating on the Bay, Westgate studies and appreciates the majestic scenery all around him each and every day. "When the wind picks up it gets rough and tough, but sometimes the Bay is like a lake; like a sheet of glass," said Westgate. "When it’s overcast the Bay looks really dark green, when it’s real sunny the water looks blue. For me it’s like a million-dollar view, constantly. Add to that all the amenities on the boat—the passengers have restrooms, they can go from one deck to another, there’s a snack bar—there’s a lot of pluses about water transportation."
