Sub-lieutenant Derek de Boorder is on a three-week, 5000-nauticalmile deployment to deliver Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines to Tokelau and the Cook Islands.
When he retired from the Otago cricket team in 2018, he moved to Wellington, first as a relationship service manager for ANZ Bank, but then decided to join the junior officer common training intake at Devonport Naval Base for 22 weeks of training.
‘‘It was really enjoyable. I hadn’t long since retired from cricket and I was reasonably fit, which helped.
‘‘I have always liked the outdoors and we had a good bunch of people on my intake, which made it a lot of fun.’’
After graduating, he worked on engineering training reform with the Navy strategic personnel planning cell, then posted to HMNZS Otago last last year before moving to sister ship Wellington this year.
‘‘Before we sail, it’s my job to assist the supply officer tracking our mission-critical items for our deployment to the islands, to make sure all our stores are on board.
‘‘I was working in a project role straight after training, and now I’m off on a ship for something completely different. It’s the variety I enjoy about this job.’’
