Nigel Brown - Snow Man

An entrepreneurial spirit comes with the territory when you’re born into Queenstown’s well-known Brown family, and Nigel Brown’s successful business ventures fully reflect that.
Not only has he succeeded in carrying on his late father, Doug Brown’s local real estate renown for almost 40 years, Nigel’s dabbled in everything from importing ski gear and building spec houses to international FIS official and charter boat skipper.
“It was hard not to be entrepreneurial with Betty (Mum) around, Dad too,” grins Nigel.
Skiing and sailing have always been his greatest passions though and they’ve taken him all over the world.
Born and raised in Invercargill until he was 13, Nigel was on skis, aged two – the eldest of four sons. “We’d drive to Queenstown every Friday night and sleep all the way home on Sunday night. Mum changed my brothers’ nappies in the car up the mountain.”
Doug spent a year buying up Invercargill houses for Comalco when Tiwai Point Smelter was being built. Nigel’s parents then announced the family was off to travel the world. “We got as far as Sydney,” says Nigel. “It was the year after the moon landing (1970).” Here Nigel discovered his love of sailing. “I’d sail at every available club every weekend, managing four sessions a weekend,” he says. “I think it was the physics of making the boat move, creating its own lift. I loved it.”
However, after three years there, when Nigel was 16, the family moved back to Queenstown. “Betty didn’t like the heat so Dad said there’s no point in going anywhere else.” After a short stint at Queenstown and Districts High School Nigel was “hooked” on ski racing. He left school and went building with Uncle Ted during summer and skied all winter. “It was a great life.”
Doug had bought a fruit shop in Shotover Street which was just a gravel road then, barely any cars. “Local kids played cricket and tossed rugby balls in the street. Everybody knew each other. The population was 1500.”
They bought Nigel a yacht from Te Anau where he had to race in weekends until the Wakatipu Yacht Club was formed. Nigel even built his little brothers a race yacht in the garage.
Doug was soon selling real estate again and Betty set up a second-hand store.
Nigel raced on the NZ Ski Team from 17 until 19, placing third in the nationals, training in Europe. At 19 he quit racing but drove Derek up the mountain for his NZ Team training camps. “That’s where I met the world’s first professional ski team coach, then New Zealand’s first full-time coach, Andreas Hefti, who invited me to be assistant coach.” A three-month stint back in Switzerland followed, with Nigel coaching the NZ Team, including Derek, travelling the race circuit to Germany and Austria.
By now a qualified ski instructor, Nigel was on the look-out for a new opportunity. He and Derek went to the big world trade fair, ISPO, where they picked up the rights to import Dachstein ski boots to New Zealand. “They hosted us in their 300 to 400-year-old Landhaus (guest house) with all the ski importers.” Still in his 20s, it was a sharp move.
“We put in an order for 100 pairs of skis and boots to start our own ski rental shop (Brown’s Ski Rentals) and kicked Betty out of her shop so we could move in.”
In the early 1980s Nigel and Derek built some spec units in Fernhill during summer while Nigel coached the QST (Queenstown Alpine Ski Team) during winter. Ski star Simon Wi Rutene also invited him to coach him in Europe in the late 1980s as assistant coach of the NZ Team, which included Nils Coberger, Markus and Mattias Hubrich.
“We went to the NZ Trade Show each year and one year the head of the NZ Ski Association invited me to become an international FIS technical delegate. They’re like the head of the jury at a ski race with full control over the rules, safety and how the race is conducted.” He was just 25 and it took a few years to qualify but Nigel still travels overseas every winter doing this work. Now renowned internationally with 40 years’ experience, he’s in demand in the US, South America and Australia. A technical delegate he supervised is now FIS Alpine Technical and Administration Coordinator.

Nigel joined Doug selling real estate in the mid-1980s, launching another 40-year career. “The Gold Ridge Hotel land (Holiday Inn now) on Frankton Road was my first million dollar sale. It was just before the 1987 sharemarket crash.” Balmoral Drive sections were selling for about $70,000 while sections in Fernhill sold for $15,000 to $20,000.
He and wife Bridget built Brown’s Boutique Hotel which opened in 2000, and not long after ran a charter boat, Luanda, on the lake.
Nigel ski raced competitively until he was 35 and still races his yacht, coming second in the nationals this year and winning the Donald Hay Race locally in early 1990s. He, Derek, and a friend, have won the Nolex 25 Nationals three times and in the mid-2000s Nigel competed in several world championships, sailing etchells.
Unsurprisingly, his four kids have followed onto both the snow and water, top racers and coaches among them. “I’ve just loved being involved with skiing and sailing.”