They obtained the same
qualification, on the same day, cum laude
Ray Smuts
TAKING A leaf from Wild West girl Annie "anything you can do I can do better" Oakley"s book, Antoinette Keller has proved she"s up there with the best of the opposite, seagoing, gender by becoming the first South African woman and the first woman in the Safmarine fleet to obtain Class 1 Master Mariner"s certification.
Not only did the country girl who gazed in awe at the ocean for the first time at age 10 do it better, she did it cum laude better.
And her joy was compounded even further when the man in her life, husband Vernon Keller, obtained the same qualification on the very same day. Not to be outdone he, too, passed cum laude.
As to when Chief Officers Keller and Keller will take command of vessels for the first time, Deanna Collins, Safmarine"s marine human resource and training manager, says this could come about in a minimum of four to five years down the line; but a number of factors have to be taken into account.
"Some First Mates (Chief Officers) - which the Kellers have now been for two years - will never make it to Master, perhaps not possessing the necessary leadership skills or other qualities required, but the dedication and application displayed by Antoinette and Vernon, both in their late twenties, shows they have what it takes."
What it does take is approximately nine years, starting out with a three-and-a-half year cadetship and then obtaining Class 3, 2 and 1 certification with 42 months of actual seatime sandwiched in between.
Clearly a devoted couple, Antoinette said : "I am very pleased that I have passed this important milestone in my career and I owe a great deal to the professionalism of the Safmarine training programme and to the support from Vernon ...... in fact we have supported each other."
Vernon, who hails from an East London, South African seafaring family, his father and one brother both being tugmasters with Portnet, said he would not have it any other way career-wise. "This is a challenging career, unlike any other, and it takes a lot of dedication."
Dedication is certainly a factor but as Deanna Collins is quick to point out, taking overall charge of a vessel is an "enormous" responsibility encompassing not only the vessel itself but its crew and a cargo which is often more valuable than the actual vessel.
Potchefstroom-raised Antoinette first saw the sea at the coastal resort of Amanzimtoti, South Africa - "It was so big!" - but she never gave a thought to a maritime career until after matriculating from school.
In 1992 she joined Portnet in Cape Town as a cadet and entered the Safmarine training programme. It was then she met Vernon and started a friendship that turned to dating and marriage in 1997.
Although there are many positive aspects to a life at sea, there are also a couple of negatives such as married couples being separated for as long as six months at a stretch.
Coming home to Blouberg Sands in Cape Town, South Africa is, therefore, all the more special for Antoinette and Vernon when their leave periods, from different ships, coincide.
