BoatUS.com Women in Boating

They work as mother-daughter teams, husbands and wives and include a handful of singles, but boaters needing assistance on the water probably don’t care who comes to their aid when they’re in a jam. Just don’t be surprised this summer when the smiling face behind the helm of that red towboat is a woman captain.

As the towing industry has grown in both size and professionalism, so have opportunities for women to get into what’s long been a largely male occupation. A recent check of owners and licensed captains operating as part of the TowBoatUS nationwide fleet found no fewer than 20 women towing operators, all currently at work helping out boaters. Some came from other professions, including an emergency room nurse and a sailing instructor, but they all share a passion for being out on the water.

Some of the women already had U.S. Coast Guard operator’s licenses and ran dive or charter boat businesses. Others simply grew up around boats and got into the towing business as naturally as kids who are computer nerds grow up to be programmers.

While some of the TowBoatUS women are business owners or co-owners, others were hired by the towing company owner. BoatUS Magazine recently caught up with a few of them — many answering their cell phones from their boats while out on a job.

Nearly halfway down the Florida Keys, Capt. Barrie McCune heads up a family business that includes her husband (who doesn’t like going out on the water), her son and her daughter-in-law, Capt. Diana McCune. Husband Donald is the radio operator.

Barrie grew up on and around the warm waters of the Sunshine State and, ironically, it was her father who encouraged her to pursue a waterborne career and get her captain’s license. Unfortunately he passed away before she became a success in the fulltime towing business, “But he’s up there smiling down on me, “ she says.

After stints in everything from importing tropical fish and running a coral shop to working as a delivery captain, she and Donald had their own experiences with calling for on-the-water assistance. It then occurred to them: “Maybe we could do this as a business,” Barrie said. That was 1988 and they took the necessary training to be licensed towers, operating as Poseidon Marine Towing & Salvage, and never looked back.

" Women think it’s neat,” Barrie said when asked how boaters react when she and Diana motor up to assist them. “But some of the men don’t want anyone to know a couple of females helped them out.”

Some male boaters she’s encountered on the job have refused her help because they insisted she do something their way, rather than believe a fulltime, trained tower knows best.

A memorable rescue was a man adrift on the Fourth of July in Florida Bay, for whom the Coast Guard had been searching but could not find as night fell. Barrie and her son found him as he flicked a Bic lighter on and off in the darkness. Because of the holiday no one had paid any attention to all the flares he set off. The McCunes have also seen water spouts at close range rip off biminis and assisted with salvage following several hurricanes, including Andrew and George. Barrie was hired by the U.S. Navy to salvage a downed aircraft.

What do the McCunes do to get away from it all? “We go up to Lake Kissimmee and watch the cows graze,” she laughed. “We have to get away from the water or we’ll be listening to all the radios.”

Her advice to other women thinking of marine careers: “Men do have their opinions,” she philosophized, “But if you feel it’s right, stick up for yourself.”

Since 1985 she’s held a Coast Guard operator’s license to carry up to six passengers and not only operated charter and dive boat businesses but ran whale-watching tours as well. Gravitating to the perfect climate of San Diego, she was friends with Maritime Partners Ltd. towing operator Don Castellani for a long time before he convinced her to join his TowBoatUS crew. “Don caught me in a weak moment,” she recalled, but having run her own businesses she found it involved too much paperwork. “I’d much rather be out on the water,” she says.

Darah had just returned from a towing call in Mission Bay as she chatted on her cell phone. The night before she described as “pretty scary” when she towed a 47-foot motoryacht with a very seasick owner on board through 15-foot Pacific swells, after both of his engines died.

In a “previous life” Darah was an emergency room nurse for 15 years and, facing burnout, made what some might call a drastic career change. She describes fetching disabled vessels in all weather conditions and pitching seas as “easy” compared to nursing. She has been fortunate in that she said she’s never had any boater question her abilities. “I enjoy it, just being out on the water and meeting people,” she said. “I enjoy lending a helping hand.”

While being continually “on call” is hard on most people, Darah is not phased one bit. “To be in this business you have to have a certain personality where you can just jump up and take off.”

The boating season is short in the Great Lakes, and the towing business shuts down from November until April. But Jeanette and her husband, Lando chose this profession, having been avid powerboaters since before they were married. He raced hydroplanes and Jeanette had a 16-foot Razorback. Attitudes must be changing because Jeanette said the fishermen on the lake specifically call and say, “Send the girls,” when they find they need a tow or some other assistance. No boater has ever questioned her knowledge or abilities or Criquet’s.

The Coleluppis got into towing when the local General Motors factory that employed Lando shut its doors 15 years ago and they could either move to Michigan to continue with GM or find another line of work. Visiting a boat show at a local mall, they saw a booth promoting towing services and that was it. “It’s a tough business but I like the people,” Jeanette said.

“ It’s hard. You basically give up your life in the summer,” echoed Criquet, who has had boaters ask if they can call her when they don’t need a tow. “We’re on seven days a week from April to November. I’ve been called out of the shower with shampoo in my hair.”

Criquet worked as a boat repairer before her parent’s began their towing business, beginning in high school with auto body repairs then graduating into fiberglass and gelcoat work on boats. “It was dirtier work but less nerve-wracking,” she laughed. But, like her mom, she loves being outdoors, being on the water and being on a boat.

“ Most guys are just shocked,” she said when responding to a call for assistance. “But you gain their respect very quickly when you’re out there and they see you know what you’re doing.”

In the business for over 13 years, she employs two other women and two male captains to serve the boaters who often run aground or out of gas on the Chesapeake Bay between Eastern Bay and Choptank River, one of the busiest cruising grounds in the summer.

Formerly a “hard-core” sailor, Mary said she and her husband cruised full-time in the Caribbean and on a lake in New Hampshire. One day while sailing they saw a towboat in action and thought, “We could do that!”

“ I just love helping people,” she said, evidenced by her spending winter months volunteering at a local hospice when the towing dock is closed for the season.

The hardest part is being on call 24/7, she said, but that’s also what keeps the work interesting. “When I go to the grocery store or the post office I’m carrying pagers, radios, and cell phones,” she said. “I think I’m addicted — when all the boats are out working on the Bay, it’s exciting.

Yolanda Rich	The Women of TowBoatUS
	Barrie & Diana McCune, Islamorada, FL Yolanda Rich, Mystic, CT Dory Young, San Pedro, CA Ann Kinner, San Diego, CA Darah Basham, San Diego, CA Mary Gilmer, Knapps Narrows, MD Polly Cox, Knapps Narrows, MD Kim Leish, Knapps Narrows, MD Jeannette & Cricket Codelupe, Cleveland, OH Katie Riecken, Evansville, IN Gale & Patricia Schwenker, Moriches, NY	Jennifer Tilack, Lorain, OH Judith Irvine, Port Clinton, OH Amy Noegel, Carrabelle, FL Jane French, Solomons I., MD Susan Ammons, Sarasota, FL JoAnn Barnard, Delaware City, DE Carole Dady, Brooklyn, NY Pattie Kearney, Ocean City, NJ Lisa Warwick, Middle River, MD Joan Meadows, Tolchester, MD

Articles