Imagine being put in charge of a vehicle weighing more than 100,000 tonnes, possibly carrying dangerous cargo, valued in the many millions of dollars. Among other things, you're tasked with parking it neatly, without damage, in almost all weather conditions, including the notorious Lyttelton Harbour southerly gales.
Doing this involves an intricate foxtrot (one-two-three, one-two-three) between you and two tugs via shared VHF radio, pushing and tugging at a behemoth with inertia or momentum of a scale bigger than most people can wrap their heads around.
That's the every-working-day life of Joanne Farmer, one of five port pilots at Lyttelton and, for 23 years, the only woman in the country to hold this role. Recently, Holly Clayton, in Auckland, has joined her in one of the last male bastions.
How is this so? Surely a woman's touch can be just as delicate, and accurate perhaps more so - as a man's on a ship's wheel? Farmer has no ready answer to this conundrum. But looking at her career so far - her extraordinary dedication to it, and all the sacrifices it has entailed - perhaps explains it.
To become a port pilot, you first need to be a vastly experienced master mariner.
Farmer spent 17 years at sea, working her way up from a sea cadet apprenticeship to achieving a foreign-going master's ticket. She worked as a ship's captain for five years. Her first command was a freighter servicing the Colombian Coffee Growers' Federation, carrying thousands of bags of coffee. Then she helmed freighters carrying packaged timber from British Columbia, Canada, across the Pacific to Japan.
This was when she decided it was about time to come ashore. "I had been spending eight months away every year." But what job gives you both shore and ships? The latter is one of Farmer's primary loves. The former is Lyttelton, where she was born and still lives in the same street, across the road from her parents' home.
Denne historien er fra October 22, 2022-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
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Denne historien er fra October 22, 2022-utgaven av New Zealand Listener.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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First-world problem
Harrowing tales of migrants attempting to enter the US highlight the political failure to fully tackle the problem.
Applying intelligence to AI
I call it the 'Terminator Effect', based on the premise that thinking machines took over the world.
Nazism rears its head
Smirky Höcke, with his penchant for waving with a suspiciously straight elbow and an open palm, won't get to be boss of either state.
Staying ahead of the game
Will the brave new world of bipartisanship that seems to be on offer with an Infrastructure Commission come to fruition?
Grasping the nettle
Broccoli is horrible. It smells, when being cooked, like cat pee.
Hangry? Eat breakfast
People who don't break their fast first thing in the morning report the least life satisfaction.
Chemical reaction
Nitrates in processed meats are well known to cause harm, but consumed from plant sources, their effect is quite different.
Me and my guitar
Australian guitarist Karin Schaupp sticks to the familiar for her Dunedin concerts.
Time is on my side
Age does not weary some of our much-loved musicians but what keeps them on the road?
The kids are not alright
Nuanced account details how China's blessed generation has been replaced by one consumed by fear and hopelessness.
