Steady hand at the helm: port welcomes new pilot

After sailing all over the world, he’ll join the port as it develops its plans for the future.

Long before man ever took to the skies, there were pilots, working since ancient times to guide ships safely into harbor ever since humans went out to sea in sailing vessels to navigate the tractless depths.

Now, the Port of Grays Harbor welcomes Ryan Leo as its newest pilot, a profession whose numbers stateside only include about 1,200 pilots total, according to their professional organization.

“I really enjoy being here. I’m looking forward to the next couple of years,” Leo said in an interview. “I’m excited to be part of the team.”

Pilots in Grays Harbor take ships from offshore, through the bar, and up the narrow channel until they’re moored safely alongside terra firma. Having a pilot aboard is an ironclad legal requirement in U.S. ports.

“It’s a unique port in that you get a little bit of everything,” Leo said. “When you’re coming up the river, you can really feel the river affecting you. It’s really unique that you’re doing the offshore piloting at the bar and you get into the river.”

Leo will join Director of Pilotage Bobby D’Angelo in piloting for the port, as a third pilot works through the years-long training process.

“It goes all the way back. It’s an old profession,” said D’Angelo, who’s been piloting in Grays Harbor since the early ‘90s. “As long as there have been ships moving, they’ve had pilots.”

A ship lies off of Westport on Dec. 9. The Port of Grays Harbor has plans to expand operations with further development, aiming to substantially increase ship traffic. (Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World)

A ship lies off of Westport on Dec. 9. The Port of Grays Harbor has plans to expand operations with further development, aiming to substantially increase ship traffic. (Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World)

Far side of the world

Leo grew up in New York City, he said, ending up taking a slightly different career arc than much of the rest of his family.

“My mother was an ER nurse, my father was a New York City firefighter. I wound up going to a maritime college,” Leo said. “I never thought I would sail. I thought, ah, I’ll check it out.”

Graduating with a 3rd mate’s license and a can-do attitude, Leo would send the subsequent years traversing the vast oceans of earth on a variety of vessels, buffeted from route to route as his career progressed.

“I started on grain ships mostly going to Africa,” Leo said. “Those grain ships were pretty cool. I went 80 miles up the Congo river.”

After sailing for years, eventually ending up on the West Coast sailing the Pacific, Leo decided to take the next step and aim at becoming a pilot.

“It’s kind of like the pinnacle of a maritime career. It’s like, all the fun parts of the ships. You’re driving the ships. You’re navigating,” Leo said. “You take over from the captain. It’s challenging. You do the fun stuff.”

Ryan Leo, right, a new harbor pilot for the Port of Grays Harbor, accepts a certificate as part of the process of becoming licensed, an extremely involved series of evaluations. (Courtesy photo / Port of Grays Harbor)

Ryan Leo, right, a new harbor pilot for the Port of Grays Harbor, accepts a certificate as part of the process of becoming licensed, an extremely involved series of evaluations. (Courtesy photo / Port of Grays Harbor)

Changes in latitudes, changes in attitude

Leo said he picked Grays Harbor for its sunny outlook on the future.

“I liked what I was hearing about the port,” Leo said. “There’s a lot of room for growth.”

Becoming a pilot is somewhat more challenging than simply applying for the job. The process takes hundreds of hours of working with pilots working the harbor the candidate is applying for, while memorizing everything that could possibly be relevant to ship handling in that area.

“How to drive a ship. How to handle a ship. The idiosyncrasies of the waterway. And how to manage the business of pilotage to make it safe and efficient for the community,” D’Angelo said. “They have to be able to basically know all the aspects of navigation by memory without reference.”

Leo said the studying was intense, taking hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars.

“I stacked the books up and it was this high,” Leo said, gesturing at head height. “The training program’s a lot. You start in the observation phase. There’s a training aspect where you’re working with the senior pilot. The last part is an evaluation.”

As part of the process, required by law, prospective pilots are required to identify every navigational light in the harbor, to draw the map of the harbor completely from memory, and to pilot a ship. The candidate must navigate the ship in safely; if the evaluator has to intervene three times, the candidate washes out, Leo said.

“It’s a grind. It was by far the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It was a ton of work,” Leo said. “It’s stressful on the family. You miss a lot while you’re training.”

The waterway itself doesn’t make anything easier, D’Angelo said.

“Some people say it’s very treacherous. Some people say it’s the most treacherous on the west coast. I myself think ‘it is what it is.’ It’s a narrow channel, an estuary tidal river,” D’Angelo said. “This is narrow, tidal, exposed on the coast. The weather is inclement. The bar is rough. They get a good education in a demanding place.”

The Port of Grays Harbor recently announced a second and soon a third new pilot for the port as the organization looks to expand operations in the county. (Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World)

The Port of Grays Harbor recently announced a second and soon a third new pilot for the port as the organization looks to expand operations in the county. (Michael S. Lockett / The Daily World)

One particular harbor

The Port of Grays Harbor has plans for expansion over the next several years, Leo said, including bringing a third pilot on soon.

“If they’re going to bring more ships in, they need more pilots,” Leo said. “Our job’s to protect the waterway and protect the public interest.”

The largest vessel he’s brought in was 950 feet, D’Angelo said- the beam, draft and length of a vessel that use the harbor are all constrained by the size of the channel.

“One thing about ships are, they’re getting bigger. You can’t avoid that. You have to look at the watershed and be able to extract the most out of the watershed,” D’Angelo said. “The other part is to look at the watershed and see what I can do with it to keep us functional, to keep us competitive.”

The port currently sees about 100 vessels a year come and go, D’Angelo said, but that number is expected to increase as the port moves forward on plans for expanding its capabilities.

“We’re always looking for the next thing to keep this community solvent. That’s what I’m always looking for on the water,” D’Angelo said. “How can we adapt? How can we extract business from this?”

As ship traffic increases, pilots will need to think ahead about their procedures and practices to keep vessels operating safely and efficiently in the tight quarters of the channel, Leo said.

“Ships haven’t met here in the channel in a long time,” Leo said. “We’re going to have simulations built of the whole harbor so we can practice meeting in the waterway.”

Pilots are just part of a larger machine, D’Angelo said, all working together to make the community successful.

“I’m doing my job with all the other parties. The longshoreman, the people on the shoreline, the businesses, the rail lines,” D’Angelo said. “I’m a spoke on that wheel, and I keep up my end to help out all those other parties.”

Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at 757-621-1197 or mlockett@thedailyworld.com.

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