Moving the Lady to the Lake
In early 2011 Noel decided to move Lady Sterling from her base on Stewart Island to Lake Wakatipu. This brings her close to Noel and Ela's home in Queenstown and makes the old girl more accessible to Noel's grandkids. How do you move a fifty foot schooner? You pick her up carefully and place her onto a specially designed rig aboard a very large truck.
With her mast removed, Lady Sterling is lifted onto a cradle using a large crane.
As you can imagine, this exercise was a a logistical feat which took some careful planning and a small mountain of money.
It was a wild and rainy day in Bluff but the cheery moving crew made short work of the task and before long the Lady was on a truck and making her way to Kingston, at the foot of Lake Wakatipu.
Thankfully, the weather had improved noticeably by the time Lady Sterling arrived at Kingston, ready to be lowered into the lake.
Another crane handled the delicate task of lowering the old Lady into the first lake she'd ever come across.
The year-round average temperature of Lake Wakatipu is only around eight degrees, so the old girl probably would have noticed a big difference from the salty water she's sat in for the last 91 years.
With her masts replaced, Lady Sterling sits proudly in her new home on Lake Wakatipu, contemplating the new adventures she's destined to enjoy.
