Cape Town - With a blessing and a heart-stopping boom of the Chavonnes Battery cannon, the V&A Waterfront’s historic Penny Ferry made its maiden voyage on Thursday after a 17-year hiatus.
Before it was decommissioned in 1997, the Penny Ferry served the Waterfront for more than 100 years.
And although times have changed since then, this 10-minute jaunt between the Alfred Basin and the Clock Tower Square still won’t cost a pretty penny. A boat ride will only set you back R5, and R3 for children older than 12. (Children younger than 12 can’t go on the ferry.) That’s a bargain if you consider that a penny in today’s currency would be about R27.
David Green, chief executive of the V&A Waterfront, said that although this attraction would not be the development’s biggest money spinner, it would reconnect Capetonians and visitors with the sea.
Derek Hanekom, Minister of Tourism, said he was at the relaunch “as a nostalgic Capetonian who rode on the Penny Ferry as a little boy”.
Hanekom reminisced about how the childhood experience was “something special” that he treasured.
While the Waterfront was constantly developing and advancing, there was also a strong emphasis on preserving the harbour’s heritage, he said.
The longest-serving ferryman was David Wasserfall, who made about 400 crossings a day for 43 years. Mogamat Petersen ferried passengers in the 1980s, and Ceylon Majola was the last ferryman to make the journey before the service was decommissioned.
But now the oars have been handed over to a group of equally able young seamen – students from the Izivunguvungu sailing academy in Simon’s Town.
Kader Williams, of Strandfontein, was the first ferryman to take passengers in the refurbished rowing boat yesterday. But he said that when the ferry officially started running in November, it would be manned by students from the academy where he taught. Izivunguvungu teaches sailing, boat-building and related skills to disadvantaged children from Ocean View, Masiphumelele and other areas.
Some of the students had also helped with the refurbishment of the ferry, Williams said.
Cape Argus