By Margaret Maccoll
Noosa Coast Guard has a new commander in Ian Hutchings who took charge a couple of weeks ago.
A master mariner with 13 years working in the British Merchant Navy Ian brings a wealth of experience to the role.
Ian spent a large part of his life on the sea. In addition to his navy life Ian spent 12 years as a supervisor on an oil and gas platform in the North Sea.
But after the platform he headed for land and a completely new career.
Ian moved into IT and for 15 year worked as an IT consultant in Houston in the US.
“It was a bit of a shock but it was interesting work,” he said.
Over his working life Ian and his wife left their home in England and lived in cities across the globe.
About five years ago they moved to Noosa but it wasn’t their first trip to the Sunshine Coast.
For 20 to 30 years they’d been travelling to the region on holiday and to visit Ian’s brother.
“I thought this is a nice part of the world, bought a house and settled down,” he said. Then Ian looked around for something to do and found the Coast Guard.
“I came up to Noosa and retired and decided I needed to do something with my spare time,” he said.
“They’re nice people to work with. Everyone tries to do their best. They’re all giving back to the community.”
