Decisions
of life and death on the highest seas
By JESSICA LAWRENCE
Picture
MEGAN SLADE
THE WINDS are blowing close to 100km/h and monstrous waves are peaking at 7m.
Perched precariously on the side of a small
boat, Nick Fischer scrambles up a rope ladder on the side of a 16m-high
container ship, holding on for dear life.
Welcome to the life of a boat pilot.
As high winds and strong seas whipped the
Queensland coast this month, surfers and swimmers braved the beach for a
taste of adrenalin-pumping surf.
But for this rider on the storm, braving the
wild weather can mean the difference between life and death.
Captain Fischer,
40, is one of 35 marine pilots in southeast Queensland who every day board
container ships moored about 5km off the Sunshine Coast and steer them
into port.
With
the waves rising and falling around him, Capt Fischer has just seconds to
jump from the 13m timber hulled transfer boat on to the lifeline that will
take him to safety.
It's
a daredevil act conducted with expert help from Mark Lennard and Lindsay
Price, who manoeuvre him out through the break.
"You don't psych yourself up," Capt
Fischer said.
"It's a very measured and safe process.
"You need to be able to read the sea,
read the swell and know the timing.
"You might need a minute to catch your
breath if you did feel apprehensive and say, `No, I want to wait for a
bit'.
"You prepare yourself for the passage
and you look at the prevailing weather so nothing is going to confront you
and be a surprise.
"If
the coxswain is comfortable with the weather, then we'll continue. If I'm
comfortable with the circumstances, then I'll step on to the ladder.
"You
take a random, quite severe environment and you control it."
It's
the job of Mr Price, 54, to help Capt Fischer "pick his moment".
"It's not too bad when you can look at
the ultrasound instead of concentrating on the sea," he said.
"The
highest I've seen the surf is more than 27 feet (8.2m) but there's another
bloke I know who has seen them get to 36 feet (llm).
"Pilots
like Nick ... they don't get to where they are without being smart.
"But
we have had to drag blokes back on board."
Mr
Lennard admitted the recent wild weather was "a bit scary".
"You
do have to work yourself up to it and think about it the night
before," he said. "If it looks like it is closing out (waves
breaking along their entire length) then you have to make that call that
it's too dangerous.
"It's
always far more dangerous coming in than going out because the swell picks
you up and pushes the boat around."
A
veteran of close to 25 years on the high seas - 15 of those offshore -
Capt Fischer has travelled the world.
"I've
been to the Mediterranean, Northern Europe, the Asia-Pacific basin and
Australia," he said.
"I
was scared when I was a trainee in the middle of the Indian Ocean while in
the middle of a cyclone, but I feel comfortable every step of the way now.
"It
seems like quite an antiquated way of getting up on to boat ... but once
I'm on that ladder it's good for the boat to be able to pull away."
While their aquatic acrobatics could lead to bravado, these pilots
stress there is no room for theatrics.
"We
don't want cowboys out there," said Mr Price. "We run
million-dollar boats and the flow-on effect of people who make irrational
decisions is that equipment gets damaged, pilots can't get out to the
container ships and the Port of Brisbane could close."
lawrencej@qnp.newsltd.com.au
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22 THE SUNDAY MAIL March 12, 2006