A family, along with a crew of international tourists, is setting sail from Port Chalmers, New Zealand, on a Pacific voyage aboard a repaired catamaran named Ruawaka of Queenstown.
The journey will likely take them towards the Pacific Islands and potentially to the east coast of Africa, but their plans are flexible.
The skipper, Gunnar Witschi, and his wife Rosa Lerchundi, along with her son David Captian and eight other tourists met at a music festival, are venturing into this journey despite having little sailing experience.
The 20-meter Polynesian-style catamaran, originally built in Queenstown in 1995, had been abandoned and in disrepair. Witschi bought it last year and has repaired it with the help of boat builders, though further repairs will be needed during the journey.
The crew is a mixed group of people, with three of them having met Mr. Captian through fire-dancing at a music festival. None of the crew, except for Witschi, have significant sailing experience.
Their immediate goal is to sail north to escape the coming winter and then continue their adventure toward the Pacific Islands.
The family’s adventurous spirit is highlighted by their flexible approach; as stated by Mr. Witschi, "God has plans, I have ideas — we’ll see where the wind blows."
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.
laine.priestley@odt.co.nz
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