Relief as 'Spirit' is lowered into lake

The Spirit of Queenstown is lowered into Lake Wakatipu at Kingston. Photo by Christina McDonald.
The Spirit of Queenstown is lowered into Lake Wakatipu at Kingston. Photo by Christina McDonald.
The wind picked up and Sir Clifford Skeggs nervously remarked ''we should have another boat here'' to help shelter the airborne catamaran.

An army of orange-vested men and two cranes - one of which made a special last-minute trip from Christchurch to join its Invercargill colleague - slowly but surely lowered the 26m-long, 8m-wide boat into Lake Wakatipu at Kingston at noon yesterday.

Those who had turned out at Kingston's wharf clicked continually on their cameras.

The Spirit of Queenstown is the latest addition to Southern Discoveries' family which includes four Milford Sound vessels, the Blue Duck Cafe and Bar in Milford, four information centres in Te Anau and Queenstown, the Go Milford coach service, 50% ownership of KJet, and other services.

Apart from having to bring in a second crane which ''made it a wee bit more expensive'', all went to plan, much to the relief of Sir Clifford, whose family owns Southern Discoveries.

''[I'm] absolutely relieved ... there were some very tense moments.''

After its maiden voyage from Kingston to Queenstown the catamaran was welcomed into Queenstown Bay by KJet jet boats, an enthusiastic welcoming crowd and more clicking cameras.

From November, the boat will take up to 150 passengers on tours to Mt Nicholas.

At present, Real Journeys' TSS Earnslaw takes passengers across the lake to Walter Peak. Sir Clifford said the Spirit of Queenstown offered ''a modern service versus the historic steamship''.

''It's a wee bit speculative, of course - it's a new venture. We believe it's got reasonably good potential.''

The multimillion-dollar catamaran was purpose-built in Australia by Aluminium Marine.

Project manager and engineer Jack Louwerse said usually the company built boats for ocean use and for use in the tropics.

"This time, where there would usually be air-conditioning there were heaters, Mr Louwerse said, and where you would have more cover on the boat from tropical rain ''obviously here you want to be in the sun''.

 

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