New life for Lady Lola
<p>The Lady Lola has put in at ports from Gibraltar to Galapagos.</p>
<p>Jon Aune, far left, and Rob Newell, alongside his wife Martha, pour champagne Wednesday in celebration of their recent joint purchase of Lady Lola, a wooden boat that has been undergoing extensive refurbishing by the Resort Boat Shop over that last month.</p>
"To Lady Lola," went the happy toast on Wednesday at Hagadone Marina.
The occasion was a celebration of the launch of the wooden tender formerly belonging to the 205-foot Lady Lola. A tender is a small boat that ferries passengers between ship and shore when a ship is anchored in a harbor.
The tender's new owners, Rob Newell of Black Hawk Capital Managers and Jon Aune of Whitehawk LLC, were thrilled with their purchase of the 28-foot, torpedo-style craft - especially the fact that it has put in at ports from Gibraltar to Galapagos.
"What I love is the rich history of the boat," Newell said. "It's been all over the world with the Lady Lola, you know. And yes, we will keep the Lady Lola name. It's a tradition."
The tender had recently been fully refurbished at The Resort Boat Shop at a cost of $100,000, according to general manager Craig Brosenne.
"It took five months to do the job," he said. "We sanded it down to the bare wood; removed the chrome and re-chromed it; remanufactured the engines; replaced the gauges and then finished it with 15 coats of varnish. Saltwater is hard on boats."
Aune was pleased with the results. "It definitely looks a lot better in the water," he said, laughing.
"When we first saw it," Newell said, "It was full of potential - ready to be brought back to life."
The tender will be docked in front of Newell's office in the Bellerive development near Riverstone. He said he will use it to take clients around the lake.
Newell's wife, Martha, said she hoped to be able to just enjoy some lazy days riding around the lake.