SHE is not the first female skipper in Marine Rescue NSW history but she sure is for the Port Stephens unit.
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Sue Freeman is a librarian at University of Newcastle by day and a Port Stephens Marine Rescue volunteer on the weekend.
And sometimes at night, when needed.
After moving from Sydney to the Bay in 2002, with no boating experience, she joined the marine rescue unit.
"I wanted to work in Newcastle, but I also wanted to have something to do with my local community," Ms Freeman said.
"I went up to the outer light tea rooms and they sent me up to the radio base.
"I thought 'why not do this' and I did that [radio] for four years."
Ms Freeman was watchkeeper at the radio base until 2006 when she joined the boat crew.
Last year Ms Freeman underwent training in all aspects of crewing and skippering of Port Stephens Marine Rescue's two lifeboats, the Codi-K II and Danial Thain, and attained her coxswain qualifications.
In July, she was formally assessed to skipper the Danial Thain, a 17-metre, 32-tonne boat that is recognised as the largest in Marine Rescue NSW.