Comments on Zululand Yacht Club

Created by doina. Last modified on 2008-01-08 10:28:30
Countries: South Africa

I recently had my 33' catamaran on the hard at Zululand Yacht Club in Richards Bay, South Africa. Most people are friendly, and the small restaurant serves a simple meal twice a day most days of the week at a very reasonable price. The club is said to have Internet connection, but this is not correct (the only one I found was the chandlery in the Small Craft Harbour, which has two PC's with Internet). There are many trees around and on the premises, and the boat will get lots of particles on deck. This is definitely not a good place to do outside paintwork. The charges for hardstand are reasonable, and for 6 weeks I paid 2200 Rands, including live-aboard and a temporary membership (membership is 400 Rands a month).

For haulout and launching however the standard rate is 6000 Rands, which I find very expensive. This has to be paid separately to the person in charge of the trolley and travelift, and not to the Yacht Club. The amount is more than four times the price I paid for haulout and launching in Whangarei, NZ, which was performed with better equipment and much more professional personnel. So sailors who come to South Africa and need to go on the hard should look for other places than Zululand Yacht Club to do a haulout.

Helge Nedreboe, S/V Riga Balsam