Captain D. R.

Stuhlbarg - Master Mariner

With more than half a century of experience on the sea, Captain David Stuhlbarg
admits to being more suited to life on the water than he is to life on the land. From a
long and rewarding career on both sailing and commercial vessels, he retired in 2016
after 14 years as captain of the pilot boat for the San Francisco Bar Pilots, a job
famously recognized as the most difficult in all of the San Francisco Bay. There he
worked year round in all weathers with an extraordinary safety record, 12 miles outside
the Golden Gate Bridge. Due to his high interest in passing on accumulated wisdom
and providing experiential education that inspires, trainees would naturally gravitate to
Dave’s watches to learn the job. A fitting conclusion to a varied maritime career.

Captain Stuhlbarg discovered his love of the sea growing up in Marblehead,

Massachusetts. As a young man he averaged more than 10 months a year at sea for 8
years aboard the SSV Westward, using Bowditch as his treasured teaching source.
When raising a family required living ashore and earning more income, he captained tug
boats, high speed ferries and bay cruise boats around the San Francisco Bay. He
served as the passenger fleet’s lead crew instructor, designing and delivering training
programs for vessel operations and safety drills. In the mid-1980s, as Captain of the
Californian for the Nautical Heritage Society, he created and orchestrated educational
programs. One of his memorable accomplishments of that time was backing this 146
foot topsail schooner into a slip under sail alone. Captain Dave named his first born
Nathaniel in honor of his great hero.

During his career, Dave Stuhlbarg has captained a wide variety of vessels up to
150 feet in size. He’s logged over 100,000 miles in the Atlantic, Pacific, Caribbean, and
North Seas. He’s carried passengers, managed private yachts, run charter operations,
managed, educated and instructed crews, delivered boats and run retreats. He has a
Masters Degree in Organizational Administration with Maritime Emphasis from
California State University, East Bay. His licensing credentials include Master of Motor
Vessels, 1,600 gross tons, all oceans, and Master of Sail Vessels, 200 gross tons, all
oceans, plus endorsements. He received a commendation from the US Coast Guard for
rescuing a pilot overboard in high seas.

Captain Stuhlbarg served on the board of directors of Call of the Sea in its
founding stages, held positions on the vessel and education committees and actively
volunteered elsewhere. He has a particular love of teaching celestial navigation and
practicing marlinspike seamanship. He currently mentors seagoing youth, entertains
gatherings with his very memorable magic shows and lives on a hill in mid-coast Maine
overlooking a sea of green with Penobscot Bay in the distance.