MILFORD WANDERER NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR BY KEITH INGRAM
I
n 1989, the chief executive of Real Journeys (named Fiordland Travel until 2002) Bryan Hutchins and company engineer Jim Young sat down to design a vessel that would allow people to stay overnight on the water at Milford Sound. The design had to be simple, easy to construct and have a point of difference to all the other boats operating in the unspoilt wilderness of Milford Sound, one of the South Pacific's natural wonders. Mitre Peak rises 1692m from the sound (strictly speaking it should be called a fiord) almost straight out of the water.
The sound is one of the world's wettest places, recording a mean annual rainfall of 6.8m. Luxuriant rainforest clings to sheer rock walls and waterfalls tumble hundreds of metres to the sea. By staying in the waters of the sound overnight, passengers can experience more of its constantly changing moods, from brooding and wet to mysterious and misty or tranquil in the sunshine.
Brian and Jim came up with a 30m steel motorsailer designed along the lines of New Zealand's traditional coastal trading
10 Professional Skipper January/February 2012
scows. They designed and built models of the concept and tested the models in the Waiau River to check for any of the inherent flaws that plagued many historic scows.
In 1990, when the concept was ready to be passed on to professionals for detailed design work, the Gulf War broke out and the project was put on hold. In 1991 the design was finally completed and Jim undertook an extensive investigation into the availability of boatbuilders in New Zealand who could undertake this work.
Given that this vessel was a significant challenge and if wrong would be a considerable risk for the company, there was a clear need for caution. In the wrong hands it could have broken this family-owned developing company.
The design was for basic hostel-type accommocation with shared bathrooms and efficiencies in build and operation needed to be taken advantage of where possible. It was decided that Fiordland Travel could undertake the work in Invercargill thus enabling them to keep better control of the budget and quality. The hull was started at JK Stevenson's heavy engineering
