“It’s like a license to go have fun,” said Alan Stewart, of the “six-pack” course taught at Stewart Training Center. Stewart knows because he did it himself:. He passed the 56-hour course for the U.S. Coast Guard Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessel or six-pack boat captain’s license, and began working as a fishing guide in the Laguna Madre. The license is required of captains who take aboard up to six paying passengers. The additional master’s license allows a captain to take out vessels up to 100 tons, which covers charter or head boats filled with anglers, bay sightseeing boats, and service or supply boats.
Stewart had planned out his encore career as a fishing guide, going through captains’ school on South Padre Island before he retired in 2001. When the school owner asked Stewart to teach classes, he got certified as an instructor. The next year, when the owner moved away, Stewart bought the business and named it Stewart Training Center.
Since then Stewart has observed that about 30% of his students follow his initial path and become fishing guides. “A lot of people retire and want a second career. Others do it as an avocation, a second business on the side.”
The demand for people holding a captain’s license has not diminished. That has helped make Stewart’s business a success. “I get people attending the school where their company pays for the course so they can run the banana boats, Aqua dogs and parasail boats for tourists. Captains on dolphin boats come and go all the time. Kids do it for one year. Some captains just move on. There is so much turnover, I was surprised. I thought it would saturate.”
While 75% of the trainees are from the Valley, Stewart’s courses draw students from across Texas, the U.S. and internationally. He enrolls many students from Houston (the closest other six-pack school) and from California. One reason is the tuition. At $850, Stewart Training Center’s fees are half that of many other schools. Stewart’s connections to lodgings simplify logistics for those taking the seven-day, eight-hours-a-day course. The six-pack classes cover navigational rules, general navigation, chart plotting and dead reckoning, sea rescue and firefighting. “You can’t miss a day. We go like gangbusters.”
Trainees take the Coast Guard exams at Stewart Training Center and on passing become, officially, U.S. merchant marine officers and, unofficially, holders of a captain’s license. In addition, the upgrade provided through the 24-hour master’s license course remains popular.
Stewart has contacts with companies looking for people with captain’s licenses, in and out of the region. “Companies ask me for captains to run crew boats and supply boats and to work on rigs. They know if they have the license they also know the safety codes and firefighting,” he said. “It baffles me why people would want to go to college if they like working outdoors. You can make a lot of money with a captain’s license, about $50,000 a year. Dedicated captains are worth their weight in gold.”
To read more of this story by Eileen Mattei, read the December 2014 edition of VBR under the “Current & Past Issues” tab on this website, or pick up a copy on news stands.