HHBSC Beach Sailing Club
Est. 1979

Where it all started.

It didn’t start with a clubhouse or a fleet. It started in 1979 with a conversation in the surf between three boat owners, and a first meeting on the lawn of the Da Gama Hotel across the road. The Hobie cats have become kites, wings and foils, but it’s still a club built by its members.

Years on this beach
47
Members
150

Timeline

  1. 1979

    Started in the surf

    Mervyn Stemmett, David Colyn and Mike Henn got talking about their boats in the surf and decided to start a club. At the first meeting, on the Da Gama Hotel lawn, Mervyn was made Commodore, mostly, he says, because he owned a peaked cap with gold “scrambled eggs” on it.

    The first clubhouse was “The Dungeon”: a tiny, damp room under the Deep Blue ablution block that flooded at high tide. Committee meetings were held on the beach.

    The original first committee on the beach in their new club T-shirts
    The original first committee in their new club T-shirts. Centre: Dr Roald Martins, the club’s second Commodore.
  2. 1980s–1990s

    The Hobie years

    With permission from the municipality, members built their own clubhouse, brick by brick. The highlight was hosting the South African Championships: more than 75 Hobie Cats on the beach, televised worldwide. The Seal Island Race took boats around shark-famous Seal Island and back across the bay.

    Off the water, the younger members soaped the clubhouse floor into an ice rink, much to the horror of the galley’s “Dragon Lady”.

    Dozens of Hobie Cats lined up on Strand beach for a regatta
    Regatta day: the beach full of Hobie Cats.
  3. 1990

    The Long Haul

    In January 1990 the club hosted the Long Haul with a record 65 boats: Strand to Steenbras, on to Gordon’s Bay and back to Strand, twice over.

    Boats
    65
    Distance
    75 km
  4. 2000s

    Kites arrive

    Kitesurfing picked up in the 2000s, and soon it took over the beach in front of the club.

    Rows of kites laid out on the sand in front of the clubhouse during a kite event in 2008, with a crowd watching from the deck and the beach
    Kites lined up in front of the clubhouse in November 2008.
  5. Now

    Kite, wing, foil

    Kiting, foiling and winging off the same beach, and a club that’s just as much about what happens off the water: a social home where the whole family is welcome.

    Two wing foilers in the air over choppy blue water, one jumping above the other
The original maroon-and-gold HHBSC badge showing Aeolus
The emblem

Meet Aeolus.

The face on the club badge is Aeolus, god of the winds in Greek mythology, blowing the wind with his hair swept back by its force. The original badge was maroon and gold.

Ten committee members from the club archive, standing together indoors

Built by its people

Committee members who carried the club through the years. From left: Rodger Carter, Jurie Wessels, Mervyn Stemmett, Jürgen Apel, Dennis Landsberg, Brian Kemlo, Dave King, David Colyn, Inge Schabord and Jan Schabord.

“And to think, it all began with two boat owners having a chat in the surf.”
Mervyn Stemmett, founding Commodore

Run by riders

The club is run by a volunteer committee elected at the AGM.

Got old club photos?

Photos, newsletters, race results: we’ll scan them and add them to the club archive.

Send them in