A Coastguard vessel towed Ruawaka — a 20m, Polynesian-style wooden twin-hull — from Lake Wakatipu’s Frankton Arm to Kingston, where she will soon be dismantled for trucking to Dunedin’s Port Chalmers.
There she will be refitted for a new life on the oceans under the ownership of Switzerland-based couple Claire and Fred Uyttebroeck.
Ruawaka (two canoes) triggered a rescue operation three weeks ago after slipping her mooring of almost 20 years during high winds, and drifting across Frankton Arm.
She was assembled over 11 years on a lakefront property by former Queenstown resident Stu Rolph, after which she was moored in Frankton Arm for nearly two decades.
He put her on the market early this year.
Mr Uyttebroeck said he and his wife, who have young children, probably would not sail Ruawaka for at least a year.
