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chine” - that is a sharp corner between the side and the bottom, but Mr. Gerber modified
this design by placing inserts in the mould which gave her a rounded chine shape. This

would have given a softer ride but at the expense of some speed and she might well be
regarded as a semi-planing hull. She carried three and a half tons of fuel giving her a

cruising range of some 850 miles.

When completed, she was shipped to Matadi on the Congo River, and then sailed down the

coast arriving at RCYC in the summer of 1957. The following year she relocated to Kalk
Bay, taking a mooring between the old wooden jetty and the beach. (Fig. 3.43). Here she

stayed for about three years before moving to Simon’s Town, giving her mooring to the
newly launched Speranza. After Gerber’s death she was bought in 1983 by Fritz Palthe and

moored in Hout Bay. In 1990 she was bought by Ian Hirschson and has recently been

completely overhauled and is in tip-top condition, with the same RR engines, and berthed
in Grainger Bay, Cape Town. “Hoppy” James, who skippered Bebe Grande for Jack Gerber

from 1957 onwards, has remained her skipper ever since and is still with her.

Speranza was, I think, the first monohedron-type planing boat in South Africa. This design

type by an Italian, Renato Levy, maintained a constant “deadrise” angle between the keel
and the chines, or bottom corners to either side, for most of the length of the boat to the

stern, or back of the boat. This was in contrast with the so-called “warped hull” form where
the angle of the bottom changes from the sharp angles at the bow to an almost flat section

aft. While the warped hull with its relatively large almost flat planing section is more

efficient, the constant angle of the Levy design gave a softer ride. This well-known boat
which is still in regular use, but not in its original form - having undergone some changes in

superstructure - was built by the Hare Brothers at their Mowbray brickfield, now apartment
blocks, in 1959/60, and launched on 18 May 1961. Speed trials in 1964, three years after

launching, gave speeds of 24 knots, and I suspect that she may well have been quicker just
after launching, as wooden boats do add weight with time. (Fig. 3. 44).