Pittwater Life September 2019 Issue

MASTER OF ALL
SHE SURVEYS:
Ella Woolcott is
blazing a trail for
women on the water.
News
Maiden Voyage
Ella Woolcott is the first female to skipper a ferry on Pittwater – and she’s only 19. Pittwater Life
talked to arguably the Northern Beaches’ hardest working teenager… Story by Rob Pegley
At an age when even the
most diligent 19-yearolds
are getting their Ps
and working at Maccas, while
studying at Uni, Ella Woolcott
is doing a 40-hour week
skippering ferries between
Palm Beach and The Basin.
At the same time, she’s also
studying for a BA in Business
Administration at Macquarie
Uni. And she assures us
that she still has a normal
social life like her friends.
Intelligent, ambitious, but
humble and down to earth; to
say that Ella is an impressive
young woman is very much
an understatement.
Born and bred on the
Northern Beaches, Ella
was something of a water
baby. She grew up on
Pittwater and her parents
have always been involved
in the marina business; they
now own and run Careel
Bay Marina. Ella started as
a – slightly nervous – tender
driver at the age of 14.
“It was hard at first when
I was 14. I refused to come
into the harbour and dock
the tenders,” Ella laughs. “But
gradually I grew in confidence
and I worked tenders until
I was 17. Next I became a
weekend manager and then
I became inspired to have a
crack at ferries.”
12 SEPTEMBER 2019
The Local Voice Since 1991