A Note From Captain Steve Winkler:

At Sea Tow Boston we have a dedicated staff of full time year round captains. Even though the boating season seems short (generally considered to be April 1st through October 31st in Boston) we have an extensive amount of on-the-water work throughout the year. We are truly available 365 days and nights a year and must have trained individuals here. Just refer to cases like the First Night-First Tow story for a glimpse. In the "Off Season" we also maintain and upgrade the towboats, develop membership programs, visit yacht clubs and marinas and attend several boat shows. This schedule keeps at least four year round full time employees very busy.

In season we also employ a few long term part time captains. These captains have full time year round jobs and careers elsewhere, but truly enjoy patrolling on the towboats, assisting boaters and even saving lives a few days a week. Part time captains, like Capt. Ken Webber and Capt. Albert Vandermeer, have been Sea Tow captains for years. Typically they work patrol shifts aboard Sea Tow towboats two to three days a week in the summer. Self employed businessmen, Career professionals, Police officers, Firefighters, EMT's etc., with days available often are a good fit with this category of Sea Tow captain.

Being in a very seasonal business, Sea Tow Boston also has positions for full time seasonal captains. Captains that have the summer available, typically from Memorial Day to Labor Day for instance, and seek 40 plus hours a week of employment are in demand. In the past we have employed teachers on summer break, college students and graduate students with the summer available and career professionals who are changing jobs and want to work on the water for the summer.

Prerequisites and Skills:

Annually I train and hire two or three captains in the late spring for the upcoming boating season. My general prerequisites are that you have good small boat handling skills and are comfortable and confident on a small boat. The USCG and Sea Tow prerequisites are:

1. USCG, OUPV (6-Pack) or greater License with an "Assistance Towing" endorsement. If you are obtaining a new license or upgrading an existing license please make sure you ask for the "Assistance Towing" endorsement. It's a 20 question additional USCG test that is required to do this work.
2. Current Red Cross CPR certificate.
3. Current Red Cross First Aid certificate.
4. Proof of recent Drug Testing. We do a pre-employment drug test and place employees on a random drug testing database program required by the USCG. However, if you have the test results from a recent (within the last 6 months) USCG drug test it would be helpful.
5. Sea Tow requires an "Employee Confidentiality, Unfair Competition and Restrictive Covenant" Certificate be signed. Once we start training we will be providing proprietary Sea Tow "System" information and "Know How". This Certificate restricts how you can use it in the future.

Once we preliminary select a captain candidate we train him "In House" on our own procedures. Some classroom and several days of on-the-water training are mandatory.

Topics such as:

1. Safety procedures.
2. Towing procedures.
3. The Sea Tow "System".
4. The Sea Tow membership program.
5. Customer relations.
6. Making and breaking tows.
7. Alongside (hip) towing and maneuvering.
8. Close quarters alongside (hip) towing in marinas.
9. Radio and communication procedures.
10. Basic salvage law and procedures.
    

Additionally, a SCUBA Open Water dive certification could be very helpful in a Sea Tow captain's list of qualifications. However, it is not in any way a prerequisite or requirement of employment. It's purely an individual thing and another way for a captain to do some additional work, help some customers with prop disentanglements and make some extra money.

I assume, require and verify that any captain coming to Sea Tow has exemplary boat handling skills. All the other stuff I can and will teach you.

If you think you would like to be a Sea Tow PRO, I'd be happy to talk to you. Please email me your resume employment@seatowboston.com

We can then set up a call or an appointment to set up a brief preliminary meeting.