So it was with a sense of pride and relief yesterday that he loaded his father, Ken Batchelor's truck and trailer with 53 skifield crash pads and sent them off to Coronet Peak.
The crash pads were among $140,000 worth of infrastructure commissioned recently by the Winter Games NZ organisation for competition next year.
The equipment includes about 4km of safety netting imported from France and will be made available for use by all skifields in the region.
Even though the Winter Games are still one year away, the pads were needed this week by Super G course safety specialist Bruce Hampstead, of the United States. He is in New Zealand this month to oversee the erection of the pads and safety nets, and to train a local team in safety aspects of high-speed skiing.
When joined together, the pads form a 66-metre wall.
"I have never done anything this big," Mr Batchelor said yesterday.
"I am thrilled to have finished. It was just the amount, just the sheer amount. 've done so much sewing."
Mr Batchelor (32) began working as an upholsterer in Timaru, aged 17.
He went into business on his own two years later and worked from the back of his father's Timaru garden centre for six months before opening his own premises.
About five and a-half years ago, the keen outdoorsman moved to Wanaka for a lifestyle change and now has a workshop in Reece Cres.
What exactly did it take to make 53 bright red, 2m by 1.25m, plastic life-saving devices to protect Super G speed freaks if they lose control?About 210 hours, 400sq m of red plastic PVC, 7.5km of thread, 33cu m of foam fill, 1600 eyelets, two mates and a quite a few beers.
And now Mr Batchelor is going skiing. For a week.
