Dock hands are necessary to the smooth sailing for the marinas and harbors of the county.
“They range from the age 15 to 22,” Leland Harbormaster Jeremy Anderson said. “Our dock hands are responsible for fueling boats, greetings and departures, and keeping the place in tip-top shape as far as cleaning,” The dock hands hold a “pretty intricate role” to managing the popular harbors.
Dock hands start around Memorial Day every year and work until the fall. Most are high schoolers or college students.
“It’s nice to have young energetic people that have a good smile,” Anderson said.
The dock hands are certified for fuel dispensing and trained on how to tie up a boat correctly, hook up power, and keep themselves safe. They are “trained to read the situation around them,” and Anderson stressed how important they are to the harbor, saying they are, “the first face the boaters see … it plays a big role in how they perceive everything.”
Suttons Bay harbormaster Edie Alysworth oversees the dock hands in charge of 174 slips in the Suttons Bay Marina.
“They’re pretty much the ones that do everything … super important to the flow,”Alysworth said. She said they are pumping gas, taking boats into slips, helping take reservations and more.
“Without them, we wouldn’t be operational,” Alysworth said. The dock hands must consider the water and be conscientious of the environment when pumping gas and doing their job.
“You don’t need experience in boating to be a dockhand,” she said.
All necessary knowledge is acquired through training before the season begins. The big thing to keep in mind if interested in the position, as Suttons Bay is hiring dock hands for the season, is, “customer service skills,” as a big part of the position is communicating well and being the friendly face to boaters from all over.
The sentiment was the same between the different harbors, it is a “fun job.” This is shown through the returning crews each year. Anderson said it is common that most return, to the position. A lot of dock hands work through high school into college. The dock hands are crucial to keeping the harbor, “well-prepped and nice,” Anderson said.
The harbors of Leelanau County wouldn’t be manageable without the help of the dock hands. With Leelanau County’s strong economic success attributed in part to tourism, the dock hands play the large and important role of making a lasting impression.
