San Francisco Bar Pilots Support Cal Maritime

The San Francisco Bar Pilots Association (SFBPA) is renewing and strengthening its long-standing support for The California Maritime Academy through a combination of scholarships and support for enhanced recruitment efforts totaling over $75,000 over the next five years.

SFBPA President, Capt. Peter McIsaac said his organization has formalized a five-year commitment to the Academy to underwrite four annually-renewable $2,500 scholarships for cadets pursuing a Bachelor’s degree and licensure as a qualified deck officer.  The organization also made a five-year commitment to assist Cal Maritime’s Center for Excellence and Learning in its efforts to recruit educationally and economically disadvantaged students.

“A majority of our pilots are graduates of the California Maritime Academy and we appreciate the Academy’s contribution and service to the maritime industry,” said Captain Peter McIsaac, President of the San Francisco Bar Pilots. “The Academy’s curriculum and training help prepare students for a lifetime at the helm, on the bridge and at sea. We are proud to do our part and support the Academy’s mission in creating the next generation of global mariners.”

Cal Maritime President William B. Eisenhardt expressed his deep thanks to the Pilots for their ongoing support of the Academy, one of seven U.S. maritime academies and the only one on the West Coast.  “Our ties to the piloting profession are long and deep along the Pacific Rim,” he noted.  “Nearly one-third of all the pilots currently guiding ships in and out of ports from southern California to Seattle, Alaska and Hawaii, are Cal Maritime graduates.  For the San Francisco Bar Pilots organization, it’s almost two-thirds.  Many of today’s pilots were able to complete their educations only because of the scholarship help they got when they were in school.”

“They understand how important and valuable it is to have assistance like this which allows students to concentrate on their studies and not worry how they will pay for them.  The piloting profession is critical to the economy of California and the nation, as over half of all the international trade goods moving in and out of the country transit West Coast ports.  The pilot’s skills and knowledge of local ports and harbors are vital to the safe passage of these vessels and their cargoes.  We are pleased to see our ties with SFBPA extended and strengthened through their generous support and commitment to the school and to our students.”