Yesterday, skipper Gunnar Witschi, from Switzerland, was at Back Beach with his newly repaired catamaran — Ruawaka of Queenstown — a 20m, Polynesian-style wooden twin-hull, originally built in Queenstown in 1995.
Today, Mr Witschi, his wife Rosa Lerchundi, of Spain, and her son David Captian plan to head north towards the Pacific Islands.
They will have an eclectic group of international tourists along for the ride after meeting some at a music festival in Takaka two weeks ago.
The plan past the Pacific Islands was perhaps the east coast of Africa, but they were very flexible.
"God has plans, I have ideas — we’ll see where the wind blows," Mr Witschi said.
Eight people from across the world would be calling the catamaran home, three of whom Mr Captian met fire dancing at a festival in Takaka.
Nobody except for Mr Witschi had spent any significant amount of time in any kind of sea-going vessel before.
Mr Gunnar, who has spent the past four years living in a caravan with his wife, said they had bought the catamaran after wanting a change of scenery.
"We’re not the type of people who want to live in an apartment and wake up to the same view every day; that’s not my thing," he said.
The catamaran had been sitting in storage in Sawyers Bay for "the past two or so years" after the previous owners dismantled and abandoned it.
Built in 1995 by Queenstown resident Stu Rolph, it was constructed by British catamaran guru James Wharram.
He sold it in 2023 to Switzerland-based couple Claire and Fred Uytterbroeck, who had plans to repair the catamaran and travel the world.
In 2023, Ruawaka of Queenstown broke free from its moorings and went for a jaunt around Lake Wakatipu before being pulled in by Queenstown’s coastguard and harbourmaster.
Mr Witschi bought it last year and came to New Zealand in December to check its condition and make it sea-worthy.
He and a group of boat-builders had repaired the catamaran "as much as possible", but would still need to conduct a few more repairs while on the water.
However, they were determined to get going today.
"We’ll launch it, and then we’ll go north as soon as possible to escape the incoming winter," he said.
