The First Five Years of PNYC

1996 is the year that Pennant Nine celebrated 21 tears since its founding. On the 5th of March 1975 the members of Triton Sailing Club attended a special general meeting at which two resolutions were proposed and voted on. The resolutions were first to change the name from Triton to Pennant Nine Yacht Club and secondly to change the clubs headquarters from Deneysville to Vaalmarina. According to the minutes of the meeting 14 members attended, it unfortunately does not show how many members there were at this time. Of the members present regrettably only George Kerstholt remains a member. Harry Levy served as the first Commodore, a position he held until the AGM in 1978.

Triton Sailing Club was based in Deneysville at the premises of Fred Raath who was the master of builder Mistrals.Manten Marina now occupies these premises.There was no Harbour wall then and the boats were always exposed to the terrible wave action that occurs often in the bay. They took the decision to move following a number of incidents that saw boats breaking off moorings and being severely damaged with claims refuted by insurers. Seven boats left Deneysville in the quest of safer waters and eventually arrived in the Vaalmarina area. After some deliberation they decided that the new club site would be close to Fools Point.They rented the site from Game Breeders, a farming concern in the Spectro Group.

The fleet overnighted in the bay in front of our current site. The first AGM was held on the 12th November1975 at the Sunnyside Park Hotel in the Rose Room. The constitution was presented and approved, with minor changes. Membership and entrance fees were set at R50.00 and R25.00 respectively. At the time there were twenty seven members with eleven Mistrals being the Dominant Class. Various other classes included three Hunters, three Frigates and an assortment of other classes.

They built a small clubhouse at the rented site. Access to the club was always difficult in the rainy season, due to the poor condition of the road, Vaalmarina Township was being developed during this time. A second move was on the card, and the proposed site was where we are now situated.

In 1976 Henry Levy attended a meeting with other commodores from Vaal Dam Clubs in Pretoria. Under discussion was the intention to raise the wall by 10 feet and the issue of water pollution. Rand water Board wanted all polluters of the dam, removed, including the ducks. They pointed out that there were already some five hundred keelboats and eighty powerboats on the dam. Thirty-five of the boats were at PNYC.

The second AGM was held on the 3 November 1976 at the same venue as the first. At this meeting they agreed that Petro Jonker and his crew would represent PNYC at the World Quarter Ton Championships in Corpus Christi, Texas. A boat called “Sunnyside UP” was chartered and finished in the twenties. The membership was closed at fifty members due to restrictions on mooring availability. Transvaal colours were awarded to Petro Jonker. Gerald Aab and Mr Turkey in 1977.

Early in 1977 discussions were entered into with Rondalia, the owners of the present site. In March it was finally decided to sign a ninety-nine year lease at an annual rental of R25.00 per annum. They held the first Amstel Single Handed race in May with twenty five entries.

They commissioned and submitted building plans at the AGM, with an estimated cost of R15 to 20 thousand for completion. After the third AGM in 1977 foundations were laid out at the new site and construction started. I am given to understand that many beer cans were added as “structural reinforcing”. PNYC hosted regattas for both the Hobie and Mistral classes.

Early in 1978 the first club byelaws were drafted and a special general meeting was called to address the issue of raising funds for the construction of the clubhouse. Construction continued throughout the year and a start was made to move from the old site to the new site.

On the 15 September 1979 the Club House was officially opened and the first AGM was held in the Clubhouse in October. It was planned a to apply for a liquor license struggled though the bureaucratic quagmire and was rejected.

We owe all those early members an enormous vote of thanks for the unselfish contributions they made in the foundling of our club and also the development of both the clubhouse and gardens. I hope that we continue to carry on these efforts for the next twenty-one years.

I leave you with the words of Harry Levy expresses on his acceptance of Honorary Life Membership, hoping we will all continue to contribute in the same spirit.

“We must remember that any service given to any club is given willingly and the sense of satisfaction one receives on seeing the club progress is all that matters”

Information used for this brief history is taken from the club records and contributions from TOSCA, George and Petro Jonker and compile by Bruce Richards.