Born and raised in Lynbrook, Long Island.
Graduated from Malverne High 1965
Graduated fourth in Marine Transportation from SUNY
Maritime in 1969
Deans, List, Admirals list, Editor of the Porthole. Two
letters for varsity sailing. Platoon Commander
Navigator on the offshore sailing team. Letter of
Commendation from Captain Phillips, master of the TS Empire
State IV for starting the school's first shipboard
daily newspaper, An Effort to be Salty, during the
summer cruise in 1968
I hold a U.S. Masters License and Unlimited First Class
Pilotage for San Francisco and Humboldt Bay, California
Shipped out after graduation. Attended UC Berkeley for a
short time but decided to become a ship pilot instead
Appointed to the position of San Francisco Bar Pilot by
the State of California in February, 1977. At that time I
was the youngest pilot ever appointed by the State's
oldest commission and the Governor since 1850.
Owned two successful businesses in San Francisco. One,
the Captain's Scribe, was on San Francisco's
famous Union Street. The second one was, Capnco, a
commercial embroidery business that specialized in
embroidery to the ship and airline industries.
I retired from the pilots in 2008 after 31 years of
service with over 6100 ship moves to my credit. I piloted
and docked everything that came into San Francisco Bay, from
submarines, to The Love Boat, to offshore oil rigs, to
yachts, to the USS Enterprise, CVN 65.
I have been married to my present wife, Carol, for
twenty-two years. We commute between our homes in Palm
Springs, California and Falmouth, Massachusetts.
My first book, Crossing the Bar, was published
by Skyhorse Press, in Manhattan in September, 2016
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