Covid makes choppy waters for Lake Taupo
A Taupō start-up business hoping technology will give them an edge on the water has found Covid-19 can take away, and give.
It took away their customers, just a month after launching their first business, Doughboats Lake Taupō in 2019.
It also handed them Adam Dooly, their partner in the new Taupō Watersports jet ski venture.
Dooly, originally from Washington DC, was working with couple James and Laurel Kells on their Doughboys business.
When Covid brought the border doors crashing shut, it also kept Dooly – who has almost a decade of experience in watersport ventures – in the country.
He was a natural choice to come onboard their latest venture.
Laurel, a nutritionist, said she and engineer husband James had the idea to launch a tourism operation almost a year before Covid-19 emerged.
‘‘We naively jumped right into tourism,’’ she said.
‘‘We ran the business for a month, three weeks, before Covid hit. We didn’t even get off the ground.’’
She said once the last Auckland lockdown ended they saw an immediate pick-up in business, prompting them to double down on their move into the tourism sector by launching the jet ski business.
Key to this decision was the discovery of safety technology the trio claim makes their jet skis amongst the safest in New Zealand.
Sitting in one of their ‘doughboats’, a small, round, electric powered craft with a picnic table in the middle – they’re the only ones in New Zealand – they’re cagey about naming the technology, and where they sourced it from.
However, James is happy to outline exactly what it can do for them.
‘‘Hardware plugs into each jet ski’s computer, so we can always see where the skis are at all times, that governs the throttle control, so we can control the skis at all times, we can also create geofencing,’’ he said.
‘‘We control the speed of the skis, even if someone’s squeezing the throttle all the way, they’ll still be going nice and slow [when moving into the lake from the Marina].
‘‘I never wanted to start a jet ski company without that kind of tech.’’
They said it had to be run past Maritime NZ first, getting the all clear before allowing them to take to the water.
‘‘They’re the safest jet skis on the lake,’’ said Laurel.
While they admit Covid-19 has made their launch harder than they would have liked, they’re confident they are well placed for the future in a place Laurel, like Dooly originally from the US, said she has come to love.
‘‘When Covid hit Immigration NZ extended my visa,’’ Dooly said.
‘‘I was like, why go back home?’’