Salty hair and I don’t care! My name is Katie Love and I have been on the water my entire life. It is no wonder I ended up in the maritime industry. I love the ocean, traveling, making money, and most importantly lots of time off to travel and play! I grew up in San Diego racing sailboats, surfing, and occupying myself with pretty much any activity that took place on the water. My mother was the one who introduced me to the ocean, probably the day after I was born. I spent my youth in beautiful Point Loma, and was fortunate to spend almost every day at the beach. Mom was an accomplished sailor in her day as well, sailing and racing a boat that women rarely raced at the time; still to this day I don't think there are enough women racing sailboats.
In Southern California they literally give five-year-olds a Sabot (an eight foot bathtub of a sailboat) and let them learn how to sail. I spent my childhood moving up through the ranks of sailboat racing, progressing through the different boat types raced by age group. I was fortunate to travel across the country and sail the Junior Women’s Single-handed National Championships when I was thirteen years old; there I met a fabulous group of girls that I ended up racing with at regattas around the country. At that point one of those girls and I decided to move into a type of double-handed boat that is raced in Olympic events. Together we got the opportunity to travel the country and internationally to race our boat in a very competitive arena.
I took a different path in high school when I decided to start making boats my career. I worked on old America’s Cup sailboats, taking tourists out for “three hour tours” on the bay; I worked on a Pacemaker 70’, a private dinner charter boat that required me to wear a dress and heels as a deckhand. I worked at the yacht club teaching kids how to sail; I also taught adults how to sail at an adult sailing school. I was hired by many people to race on their boats. I also went fishing whenever I could. I had no idea there was a maritime college dedicated to something I had done my entire life, until my cousin told me about the California Maritime Academy – the college he was attending at the time.
It was amazing to find out that there was a college for people who love boats! I truly had no idea. It’s crazy to think that not many people know about schools like Cal Maritime. I realized shortly after I started at CMA that I wanted to go the “workboat” route. I did my cadet shipping with Foss in San Francisco Bay, and I knew then that was exactly where I wanted to end up. The tug life was my thing.
After college I continued working on tugs with a short stint in the Gulf trying my hand at DP (Dynamic Positioning) systems, but quickly found myself back in the towing world. I moved up from AB to AB/Tanker-woman, then to 2nd Mate/Cargo Mate, and last year I made Chief Mate. I am currently a Chief Mate at Foss Maritime, and couldn’t be happier: these are my people. I now hold a 1600 ton Masters license/Unlimited 2nd Mate, Oceans. I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished and what I’ve earned. It was quite an exciting day getting my Masters license in the mail! Like I said from the beginning: salty hair, don’t care! The ocean is where I belong and that is where you will always find me! I look forward to sharing my sea stories with you all.