When Suzannah Vaughan was appointed to run the first floating production storage and offloading vessel to work offshore India, she believed it was another significant step in her family's connection with the subcontinent and oil.
When Suzannah Vaughan was appointed to run the first floating production storage and offloading vessel to work offshore India, she believed it was another significant step in her family's connection with the subcontinent and oil.
Ms Vaughan's great aunt spent her life helping children in India alongside Mother Theresa, while her chemical engineer grandfather worked on the construction of some of Western Australia's first oil refineries.
Both of these historical links came to mind recently when Norway-based Aker Floating Production offered her the offshore installation manager's position on the Dhirubhai-1.
"This is the opportunity to make a difference to a nation and it will be immediately apparent," Ms Vaughan told WA Business News.
"We're going to make a big difference in India; it's the first technology of this kind there."
But family history is not the only explanation for Ms Vaughan's achievements in running offshore oil ventures. A two-time WA Business News 40under40 winner, it's her passion for working at sea that has driven her unique career pathway.
"I always loved going to sea. I started out going on the STS Leeuwin (square rigged sailing vessel) at 16 years old as a volunteer, and I was lucky enough to be selected to go on the STS Young Endeavour on a world voyage at 18," Ms Vaughan said.
"I couldn't stop after that."
In 2002, at the age of 29, Ms Vaughan became the first Australian female facility supervisor of an FPSO vessel with Australian FPSO Management (AFM).
In 2006, she became the first female and youngest-ever offshore installation manager of an offshore oil producing facility in Australia, with the same company.
This month, Ms Vaughan is leaving WA's north-west coast, where AFM is operating, to run the Dhirubhai-1 FPSO off the east coast of India.
"One of my favourite things that I am going to miss is the whale migration here [in WA]; it's just fantastic to see that. I was taking off in a helicopter recently and we were about 40 metres above the water and this whale jumped out of the water, did this huge spin in the air and back down in the water," Ms Vaughan said.
"You get to see some amazing things like that, and the camaraderie you can build with your team out there through the highs and the lows that you go through."
Ms Vaughan believes the high pressure environment created by the one month on, one month off rotation with 12-hours shifts, along with confinement and strict rules, can also create a special rapport within the team if one can work within those rules.
"You can't go out there and have a bad day, you have to perform every day at a consistently high level and it's very important that everyone does that," she said.
"I have a lot of interpersonal contact with everyone and make sure I speak with everyone every day and find out how they're going; maintain their understanding that what they do is important.
"You can achieve a great sense of team work and togetherness, it's a wonderful thing, and for instance you might not see someone for years then when you do again the rapport is there straight away."
Ms Vaughan, who still volunteers on the STS Leeuwin training ship, wants to work at sea as long as she can.
"I prefer the operations side at the moment and start offshore operations. I'm 35, so I've got a few more years in me doing offshore, I still enjoy building that sense of community that you create out there," she said.