Boat event at Lake Wakatipu ‘huge success’

They had a hull of a time.

Proud owners of about 40 historic and classical boats from all over the South Island gathered in Queenstown on Saturday for the inaugural Southern Lakes Classic & Historic Boat Event, which included a mass cruise behind the TSS Earnslaw.

Organised by Karelan and Greg Doran and supported by the Wakatipu Community Maritime Preservation Society, vessels included some of the alloy U Drive hire boats which operated on Lake Wakatipu from the late 1950s to 1975.

Examples were The Lion, originally built by Dunedin’s James McPherson for Queenstown’s Hugh MacKenzie, and launched in the lake in 1912, and Meteor III, one of the first tourist boats to operate on Lake Wakatipu, having been brought to Queenstown from England by Frank Howarth in 1966.

But it was one little boat, not quite ready to go in the water this year, which made the biggest waves at Kelvin Grove.

The pale blue boat was an original rebuild of Saucy Jane, Bill Hamilton’s first jet boat, which had been painstakingly built over the past seven years by Jim Lapsley, of Christchurch.

Mr Lapsley said the boat, which had cost about $150,000 to date, had been rebuilt based on three photographs of Saucy Jane, which travelled up the Ohau River, near Irishman Creek Station, in early 1954, achieving a speed of 17 miles per hour - about 27kmh.

Additional guidance around some of Saucy Jane’s dimensions came from the third owner of the boat, George Davison, an engineer who had worked with Mr Hamilton, his son, Jon Hamilton, and Alf Dick on jet unit development in the 1950s.

Using the photos and Mr Davison’s recollections, a naval architect drew up accurate plans for the hull.

Mr Lapsley said the 1945 E93A Ford Poplar engine was rebuilt and the boat’s jet unit was an exact replica of the original.

While there was only one piece of the original Saucy Jane in Mr Lapsley’s boat, it was as authentic as possible, including autographs on the dashboard and windscreen wings of Mr Hamilton, his wife, Peggy, their son, and grandson, Mike Hamilton, Mr Dick, Mr Davison and Mr Lapsley.

Wakatipu Community Maritime Preservation Society committee member Jeff Williams said he hoped to see Saucy Jane in the water for the 2024 event, which he expected would continue to grow in popularity.

"It was a huge success, it was bigger than anyone expected. It went brilliantly [and it was] a dream day."

}Mr Williams said Lake Hawea’s Nigel Williams and Rae-Ann Sinclair’s 1930 Classic Craft Hacker-Craft replica won the award for the best wooden boat following the event.

tracey.roxburgh@odt.co.nz