HISTORY 1952 — George Coates’ first flat-bottomed “ski-boat”. Note the small Seagull outboard hung on the transom, as an emergency “get-you-home” device!
By Ian Coates
T
HE last time that I was at Mapelane was in 1995 while my dad, George, was still living at Monzi. I feel the regulations outlawing any beach driving have killed Mapelane, where these days only skiboaters have realistic access to the beach and launch site. My memories of those very early days when we had our clubhouse and shacks on the beach and then later in the bush overlooking the bay will always stay with me as the best days of our lives. One thing I vividly recall is the way the skiboats changed over time. This article is an attempt by me to record the metamorphosis of the Mapelane skiboat from the early ’50s as I recall the progress through the years ... Around 1951 or 1952 the serious fishermen at Monzi, with help from some friends at St Lucia, decided to build themselves an enclosed deck, unsinkable boat, for fishing behind the surf back-line. They had seen similar boats going to see off Durban and wanted to do the same off Mapelane. David Cork (who was operating the Estuary Hotel in the early ’50s) had previously worked for the Royal Navy in the UK as a marine architect. He had some basic designs, suitable for a small f lat-bottomed skiff, based on the RN landing craft design. To keep it
light, and since aluminium was, at that stage, available, George Coates and some others including Walter van Rooyen, decided to build this 14ft mini landing craft, based on David’s design. This new “ski-boat” resembled one of the already famous swamp boats that were used in the Everglades, USA. However, instead of an aero-engine and propeller, it had a raised transom that could accommodate a small outboard motor — very small by our standards today! The largest motors available back then were Johnson and Evinrude 15hp, 18hp and 25hp which were definitely better than the old, nonenclosed “chugg-a-lugg” Seagull of some 2hp! The original boat had a single 16hp motor, was tiller-steered and the motor was open to the sea from underneath, with obvious consequences in the surf. The open motor design meant that even the slightest hint of a sea water splash would extinguish the ignition. That was quite a challenge when launching into the incoming surf, but still we went to sea. Our only other “back-up” was an anchor, rope and a pair of oars. This flat-bottomed boat could plane quite easily with a 15hp motor but its acceleration was not sufficient to run ahead of a following, incoming surf breaker when coming ashore.
20 • SKI-BOAT July/August 2020
