The prospective new owner of the River Boarding Co says changing its name back to Mad Dog Riverboarding is a business decision, despite the drowning of a young Englishwoman on one of its tours in 2008.
The Queenstown whitewater adventure tourism operation announced yesterday it would now be run by German Arno Marten. The guide, who has lived in Queenstown for six years, told the Otago Daily Times yesterday he and another guide were in talks with River Boarding Co owner Brad McLeod, now of Wellington.
Mr Marten said Mr McLeod "needed a break" and, as he had worked for the company for five years, Mr McLeod asked if he would run it.
Mr Marten said he really would like to, but the name had to revert to Mad Dog. The death of Emily Jordan was "certainly playing a role" in the change, but the bigger factor was the change in target market, he said.
"Brad never liked Mad Dog so he changed it, and another reason was the clientele changed over the years so it was a more family-orientated operation, where for me, Mad Dog reflects our target market of adventure people between 18 and 35."
Emily Jordan (21) died in April 2008 when she was trapped underwater for 20 minutes while on a Mad Dog Riverboarding tour on the Kawarau River near Queenstown. A British inquest returned a verdict of misadventure and criticised the operator in May, almost two years after it was fined $66,000 and ordered to pay $80,000 reparation to the Jordan family.
"There will always be the link - it's a very sad thing that happened," Mr Marten said.
"I think we shouldn't put it under the carpet and forget about it. It will always linger around and we're always working hard to not repeat that, obviously. It's a fine line between not forgetting it and paying respect to what happened and making better, safer things for the future."
Returning guides would train this weekend and Mad Dog commercial operations were to begin on Monday. A "large emphasis" would be placed on river skills and fitness throughout the season, with new trainees working towards becoming certified whitewater boarding guides.
All staff would work with Maritime New Zealand and Skills Active to maintain the highest levels of safety, the company added.
