Announcement – CW12 Swimming Gala SHIPWRECK EDITION
Greetings all! 
The summer is heating up, so it’s time to get our Cubs, Scouts, scouters and parents back in the pool for the 2016 CW12 District Swimming Gala – Shipwreck Edition!!! We’ve heard your requests, and will be awarding a prize for the overall best pack, troop and adult teams this year, as well as the overall winners. Our theme is Shipwreck and attached to the letter is some information on and interesting piece of Table Bays maritime history.
The Gala will take place on Saturday 30 January 2016. Registration is at 12h00 and the competition is expected to run to approx. 16h30. There will be a fee of R100 per group to participate; this is to cover the cost of using the pool as well as some of the STA materials you will need. Groups can pay this in cash at registration or can make payment via EFT if they prefer. Please email events@tablebayrovers.co.za to confirm your attendance by Thursday 21 January 2016. The venue will be Milnerton Primary School.
PLEASE READ THE FULL LETTER HERE.
Up to date rules are here.
Past results and details are here.
Theme Info:
Many hundreds of ships have been lost in the shallows of Table Bay since the seafaring nations began to use the bay in the 15th century. Fragments of many of these wrecks lie along the shores of the present bay coast, on what was once Woodstock Beach, and extend northwards across the edge of Table Bay towards Milnerton and Blaauwberg. Milnerton lagoon previously formed part of the massive Salt River Estuary and Paarden Eiland channels. This body of water is believed to have stretched from what is now Duncan Dock to Rietvlei. It was navigable and ships were often brought into the mouth of the river.
And as you may have guessed – where you find a lot of ships, you get wrecks!
One of the better documented wrecks, and one that will be thematically explored at this year’s Swimming Gala is the 28 July 1934 wreck of the Winton MV. The Winton was a large diesel powered cargo ship, carrying grain from Australia to England. A combination of captain error, poor weather and a strangely placed red light in Milnerton were responsible for one of South Africa’s largest shipwrecks of the time – and quite possibly the largest explosion to ever take place on Milnerton Beach.