METEOR III

Last week we ran a story on the very fast Meteor II, the 33’ Collings & Bell built ex Lake Wakatipu, Queenstown, tourism launch. Link below https://waitematawoodys.com/2022/03/15/meteor-ii-comet-ii/

I was subsequently contacted by John Bullivant who supplied the above photos of Meteor III. John advised that his research uncovered that all of the Metero’s (1 / II / III) were owned by Frank Haworth, who ran a very successful tourism business in Queenstown in the 1950’s>1960’s.

It is believed that Meteor III was NZ’s first hydrofoil , but built in the UK. Meteor III cruised at 55 kph and topped out at over 70kph.

I understand that she operated on the lake until the mid 1990’s, but these days is run by a charitable trust and occasionally comes out of retirement.

When she first hit the lake in the 1950’s, based on the photos it must have been an impressive sight.