At home at the helm

Elia Powers

Two years ago, while dining on the shores of Newport Beach, Nancy

Thompsen noticed a compact ferry coasting on the smooth water. Her

eyes focused on the person behind the wheel, and she fell in love.

Not with the captain, but with the possibility of earning her

paycheck carrying passengers on the five-minute ride from Balboa

Island to Balboa Peninsula.

“I said to my friends, ‘That is the coolest job. I can do that,’”

Thompsen, 56, recounted.

Two months later, she saw a listing for an opening at the Balboa

Island Ferry. Already armed with a captain’s license, Thompsen drove

to the harbor for her interview.

“I had acrylic nails and my hair was all done up,” she said. “I

didn’t look like a captain, but I wanted a chance.”

Ferry operation manager Lowell Swett didn’t hesitate, hiring her

for a part-time position. On April 4, 2003, Thompsen’s career as a

captain began.

In the 86-year history of the Balboa Island Ferry, Swett said he

could recall only four women who were boat operators. And of the 15

captains currently employed, she is the only woman.

Swett said he has tried to diversify his staff during his

year-and-a-half tenure as operation manager, but few women have

followed through on interviews. Thompsen admits she is unique in her

new field.

“It’s not a woman’s kind of a job,” she said. “You are expected to

know how to jump-start cars and start engines. You have to be willing

to pour coolant and check the oil and engage the transmission.

“I love all that. I like driving all kinds of things.”

Thompsen said she goes out of her way to look feminine when she’s

behind the wheel -- keeping her nails manicured and letting her hair

blow in the wind.

She makes small talk with passengers, such as Sharon Bridges, a

Newport Beach resident and 25-year ferry patron.

“All this time I have used the ferry, and finally there is a woman

driving. It is so great to see a female in that position,” Bridges

said.

Thompsen, a resident of San Clemente, never envisioned herself as

a captain. She was settled into her information technology job and

content with keeping boating as a recreational hobby.

She and her husband own a small boat and take it out on weekends

from a dock in Dana Point. They enrolled in a six-week Orange Coast

College certification course together in 2001. They passed the Coast

Guard examination and received their captain’s licenses.

But, at the time, Thompsen said it was merely an educational

experience.

When she accepted the ferry job, Thompsen said she spent a full

week walking the streets of Newport Beach, trying to learn details

about a city she rarely visited.

Thompsen’s knowledge and nautical maneuvering has paid off -- she

was hired full time last year, when a position came open.

“She is a very assertive operator and very quick to learn,” Swett

said. “She’s always trying to perfect her landing. She’s very

efficient and has done quite a good job for us.”

Three days a week, Thompsen is up before dawn, taking her first

commuter or tourist on the water at 6:30 a.m. -- one of 50 round

trips she will make in a given day.

Thompsen said the novelty of driving the ferry still hasn’t worn

off.

“This is more fun than I’ve had since I was 15 years old,” she

said. “I would drive the boat for free if they asked me.”

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at

elia.powers@latimes.com.