Cape yachties may weigh anchor

The Royal Cape Yacht Club, one of Cape Town's oldest institutions, is facing eviction from its current berth at Cape Town Harbour as the Ports Authority demands more space for ship repairs.

20 Jan 2014

But yacht club members are adamant that they want to drop anchor in the same spot they have always done since 1947 - until their current lease expires in 2023.

The club's general manager, Marcus Reuter, said members were weighing up "all the options", but added that "options [about a future location] have to be presented to the club" by the Ports Authority.

Options include the V&A Waterfront or Granger Bay.

Sailor Vitor Medina said the current location was steeped in tradition for the club's 1200 members.

"Unless we are forced to, we are not keen to leave," said Medina.

Cape Town port manager Sipho Nzuza said the Ports Authority was keen to expand its job-creating ship repair business.

"We have 13000 vessels in 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," said Nzuza.

The club's "future committee" chairman Thomas Swanna said it was looking at options which included the V&A Waterfront or the next door Granger Bay."We've engaged in a study with the provincial government, which will provide a qualitative analysis of the value that the club brings to the economy".

"We're hoping that by the end of this month, the results of that study will come out so that we can take it to the Ports Authority. We need to be objective about [a move]," said Swanna.

Source: I-Net Bridge

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