Six mornings a week on the Berg

A members' canoe club at Paarl. Your first paddle is free and the boat is ours.

A boat shed on the Berg, run by the people who use it

Peddel started in 2009 when four of us got tired of driving through to Stellenbosch to paddle and cleared out an old pump shed on the Paarl side of the river. The club has never had an owner. Members do the coaching, the repairs and the braai, the committee is elected every February, and the only person we pay is Sarah, who keeps the books and answers the phone. Membership is R310 a month on debit order and there is no joining fee. Your first paddle costs nothing — come on a Saturday, we will put you in a wide, stable boat and somebody will paddle alongside you the whole way. If you decide to stay, we lend you a boat for your first month while you work out whether you want a K1 or something you can sit in without thinking about it, and the loan includes the paddle and the buoyancy aid.

The twelve kilometres we paddle most mornings

Shed to the Mbekweni bridge and back, filmed off the front of a double on a still Thursday in June. No commentary, nothing cut. The last three minutes are the stretch that catches people in the marathon.

240

Paid-up members. The youngest is twelve, the oldest is seventy-eight, and both of them pitch on Saturdays.

6

Mornings a week on the water. Monday to Friday from 05:15, Saturdays from 06:30, and Sunday is for sleeping.

34

Berg River Canoe Marathon finishes by club members since the shed opened in 2009.

11

River trips a year, from the Breede in winter to four days on the Doring when it comes down.

Who takes the sessions

Hennie MaraisHead coach · weekday mornings

Twenty-one Berg finishes and still the first one on the water at quarter past five.

Nolwazi MkhizeBeginners and river safety

Runs the Saturday intake and the swim test. If the water makes you nervous, you get Nolwazi.

Deon FourieMarathon squad

Coaches the dozen members chasing a Berg seeding, and patches every hull that comes back cracked.

Rushda AdamsJuniors · Wednesday and Saturday

Teaches the under-sixteens, most of whom now paddle away from the people who taught them.

First paddle is free. Bring a hat.

Come on Saturday

Members

I came for one Saturday to see what it was like and I have been here every Tuesday and Thursday since. Nobody once made a fuss about how slow I was.

Marlize du Toit · Member since 2021

They lent me a boat for six weeks before I bought my own. That is the only reason I could afford to start at all.

Sipho Dlamini · Member since 2023

My daughter joined at thirteen and could not sit still in the boat. She finished the Berg at seventeen with Deon in the one behind her.

Elmarie Bezuidenhout · Parent, then member

It is a club, not a gym. You get a key to the shed, a turn on the braai, and people who notice when you stop pitching.

Thulani Radebe · Committee, 2024–2026

Join the club

The shed is on the river side of Berg River Boulevard in Paarl, past the second low-water bridge. Somebody is there from 05:15 on weekdays and 06:30 on Saturdays. Phone or WhatsApp 082 447 6019.