Page 98 - Bulletin 18 2014

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the bedrock and filled between with rubble; the remainder consisted largely of rubble covered

with heavy concrete blocks to protect the exposed sea side. A 400 ft. jetty with jarrah decking
supported on 12 inch rail piles (made of four rails) founded in concrete blocks branched off

from this. Together they provided much needed shelter and additional berths, but the design
and detailing of the mole were crude in comparison to the care and quality invested in the

breakwater. The total cost was £13,560. (Figs. 2.57 – 2.60.)

In 1940 the Royal Cape Yacht Club erected a small clubhouse at the root of the mole. This
originated in RCYC’s intention to be a mother club promoting yachting in False Bay as well

as Saldanha Bay by establishing satellite clubhouses there. This facility provided basic toilet
facilities and limited storage for sails and oddments. It functioned throughout the war under

the supervision of Mr Steytler but never really took off because formal yachting was

suspended during the war and many yachtsmen were on active service. It was closed in 1950
because the False Bay Yacht Club was in formation at Simon’s Town, at the initiative of the

Keeper of the King’s Dockyard, Commander Thomas Donkin, and much better facilities were
anticipated there for many more yachts than Kalk Bay could accommodate.

In the post-war years a new generation of cruising craft arrived: leisure and tunny boats were

built for speed and grace, such as Jack Gerber’s Bebe Grande and the Hare brothers’
Speranza. The ex-wartime crashboat Iona did the Seal Island run every morning and

afternoon until its demise in 1977. In 1955 there were 60 boats berthed and moored in various
parts of the basin. (Fig. 2.61.)

Recent changes

The little bay has had an unchanged concrete perimeter for nearly 75 years. This consists of
the entrance road, fish landing quay, breakwater, north mole, and rail viaduct. In 1965 a new

double slipway capable of accommodating boats up to 100 tons was built below the entrance

road embankment. And then, as a result of the ‘perfect storm’, on Sunday 11 April 1993,
which carried away the wooden jetty and destroyed many boats, the new concrete jetty was