The Royal Cape Yacht Club has been accommodating Yacht owners in Cape Town since 1905, and is one of the Mother Cities’ oldest institutions.
The club is, however, facing stormy weather. It may be removed from its current spot at Cape Town Harbour as the Ports Authority demands more space for ship repairs, and the servicing of oil rigs.
Times Live reports that Marcus Reuter, the club’s general manager, says members were weighing up “all the options”, and said they would follow all the due process but added that “options [about a future location] had to be presented to the club” by the Ports Authority.
However, Cape Town port manager Sipho Nzuza said that the Yacht Club was getting in the way:
We need to find a correct position for them (yacht club). We see them as being in the wrong place. We have 13 000 vessels visiting the harbour each year but when it comes to ship repairs we can only service 53 vessels. We are losing a lot of business to other countries
Nzuza also suggested the V&A Waterfront as the new home for Cape Town’s yacht-owners, But the club’s former commodore, John Martin, said a move to the V&A Waterfront would be much more expensive for the members, and make it seem more “elitist”.
We’ve been trying to bring more previously disadvantaged people [into the club]. Some of those young guys we’ve trained have gone on to become skippers, and one is even captaining a navy vessel.
[Source : TimesLive]
