History

Blouberg Lifesaving Club was born in 1982 when founding members George and Alan Zondagh, John Morkel and Harold Larsen convinced the Blaauwberg Municipality to allow them to turn a small boatshed at Big Bay beach into a club facility.

As the club grew, these founding members mortgaged their homes to pay for the characteristic double story clubhouse that is remembered fondly by many Big Bay locals. These stalwarts paid the bond on this clubhouse for almost two years before the municipality took over ownership and leased the clubhouse to the club.

In 1988 the resident windsurfers teamed up with the lifeguards to form the Blouberg Beach Club. In 1994, however, the growth of the lifesaving division resulted in the lifeguards reclaiming total control of the club and the Blouberg Surf Lifesaving Club was re-established.

In the years that followed, the old clubhouse was expanded, altered, repaired and renovated continuously until rumours of the Big Bay development started circulating. After several years of uncertainty and political scandals the Big Bay development project was given the go-ahead and Jonga Entabeni were awarded the project contract.

After intense negotiations with the ex-chairman of the Blouberg Surf Lifesaving Club, Willie Jansen, the developers agreed to build a new clubhouse to replace the one we would lose through the development. In the spirit of change, it was agreed to change our name and logo to more closely associate with our home beach and the development.

Big Bay Surf Lifesaving Club was officially registered in 2006 and our current clubhouse was opened by Councillor Ian Neilson on 26th May 2007. The location of our clubhouse is undeniably the best in the country and perfectly suited to house the lifeguards that proudly patrol Big Bay beach.