'One day it won't be'

The job she loves but the comments she does not

“Your partner must be earning well to be able to finance this boat,” was the comment directed to Rachel McGregor.

But perhaps I’m getting too far ahead.

McGregor, 41, loves life on the water, she has had a background in commercial boating for the last 18 years.

Her experience included working as a guide on a tourist boat, and then she later got her skipper’s ticket.

“There is no other job I wanted to do.”

Her growing love of the maritime industry gave her various opportunities, including Search and Rescue, marine oil spill response training, and she also worked on the Port Otago dredge for four years.

McGregor loved her time on those work boats, but missed interactions with the public.

“That is when I decided to do something myself.”

“I didn’t really identify a gap in the market, I wanted to get on a boat, I wanted my own boat. And if I got my own boat I wanted to show people stuff, and they can pay for my fuel . . . that was my business plan.”

She first investigated buying a boat back in 2014, but that was sold to someone else and “I ended up letting that idea go”.

Instead she was looking at buying an investment property, but in 2017 she decided instead to get her own boat built to the specifications she required: a trailer boat able to be towed by a normal road vehicle, an outdoor motor, have a large cabin and be able to transport 20 people.

That’s when she took ownership of the Sootychaser, and began operating out of Back Beach, near Port Chalmers, with her company, Port to Port Cruises and Wildlife Tours.

She would take between 12-14 passengers for a wildlife cruise, compared to a ferry crossing which could take about 20.

“It is a personal experience rather than anything fancy,” McGregor said of the tours.

Passengers would regularly spot the likes of albatross, humpback whales, southern right whales, orca, sea lions and fur seals.

“On a typical wildlife cruise we see between 13-20 species.”

And she had found her business sweet spot, even when the global pandemic effectively shut off the growing cruise industry.

The hardest day of the lockdown was the first day, when she realised that the cruise ship trip earlier that day would be her last for a while.

But the extra time also meant she had more time to focus on the business side of her company: “it was an opportunity to do things smarter”.

The business was becoming increasingly popular for cyclists, coinciding with the increasing popularity of e-bikes as well as major cycleways almost completed on both sides of Otago Harbour.

During school holidays McGregor also operated a service to Quarantine Island, where families took part in a treasure hunt.

“It is quite a satisfying lifestyle, as a single person to have been able to build a business from nothing . . . it was a hell of a process to set this up and was an incredibly challenging few years.”

So back to that comment:

That was directed at McGregor earlier this month by a man, who she told, “I’m pretty sure I don’t need a partner to do that.”

“It initially made me angry, but once the shock of the comment dies down, it is just a little bit amusing . . . I suppose.”

“I wasn’t really sure what his intention was, maybe it was a pick-up line, because they are trying to find out whether you have a partner.”

“So I feel that was a bad pick-up line.”

McGregor said for the most part people were very supportive, but it wasn’t unusual to receive comments about her gender, size and age.

While people were less likely to ask her age compared to when she was younger, she was now being asked about financial matters.

“When people make these comments, which in some ways belittles everything I’ve gone through, they really don’t know what I’ve gone through.

“I don’t take offence by it, even though I’m shocked.

“I’m quite happy for people to be unfiltered.”

She recalled working on a dredge (her job was operating the machinery) when someone asked her if she was there to make the tea.

McGregor, who was 157cm tall and weighs about 50kg, said: “I didn’t look like the sort of person who is strong enough to do the work people expected you to do on a dredge.”

As part of her business she did all the jobs, ranging from servicing the engine of the Sootychaser to cleaning the toilets.

McGregor said during the almost two decades she had worked on the harbour she had been the only woman with a skipper’s ticket, but was now aware of one other.

“It is not very often I hear a lady’s voice on the VHF radio . . . when I do it is always a surprise.”

“One day it won’t be.”

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For those impacted, or interested in the impact of proposed cuts to the University of Otago, there will be a ‘Save Tertiary Education Kōrero’ this Saturday, at Age Concern Otago (entrance via The Octagon, next to the Prohibition Smokehouse). 

The Protect Otago Action Group will be joined by Green Party co-leaders Marama Davidson and James Shaw, current OUSA President Quintin Jane, and representatives of the Tertiary Education Union.

This from the organisers: “The success of Dunedin depends on the strength of our education sector”.

“We all have a stake in avoiding the irreparable damage these significant staff cuts would cause.”

And if hunting aurora are your thing (I’ll admit to having never seen one), then please read this. The Dunedin talk will be at Tūhura Otago Museum on July 2.

ICYMI, I also wrote a curious story about a teacher and a high school, if you know anymore please email me at hamish.mcneilly@stuff.co.nz.

I also got to the bottom of the long-running Matt Davey (Ticket Rocket) saga, and wrote about the curious case of the Dunedin farmer taking on the council.

Speaking of the council, I would like to give them a shout-out for the fantastic facility which is Te Puna o Whakaehu.

All those butthurt people losing themselves over the name, are going to love inside.

Dive in, you know you want to.

And if you know where this is, please let me know in the comments.

Lastly, I’d like to also highlight the work each Saturday (over the last three years) involving a group of former Cadbury staff, who stand in the former carpark to fundraise for mental health.

This weekend they raised $50k fundraised, with most proceeds going to I AM HOPE Gumboot Friday and Life Matters.

Amazing.

I also hear one of the city’s most prominent sons, Martin Phillipps, who is currently playing sellout shows UK/Europe is about to turn 60.

Here is a great article about him from the Irish Times.

Have a great week.