Vaal Dam - Water Sports

Water Sports

Many world class watersport events are held here including the annual "Round The Island" yacht race organized by Lake Deneys Yacht Club— a race that has been in the Guinness Book of Records for being the "Longest Inland Yacht Race in the World". Several large events take place here including Keelboat Week and the Bayshore 200 km jetski race, and now the Bayshore Marina Vaal Dam Treasure Hunt.

Three provinces make up the Dam's shoreline - the Free State is the largest by area, Mpumalanga has a beautiful and relatively unspoilt shoreline, while the most despoiled by far is that of Gauteng. The dam was commissioned in 1939, has a capacity of 2.536 cubic kilometres (2,056,000 acre·ft), and a surface area of 320 square kilometres (120 sq mi), the dam wall is 63 metres (207 ft) high. Due to the large lake size reservoir there is a problem with evaporation, see Sterkfontein Dam for more details.

Deneysville is the largest town on the Vaal Dam and provides the shopping centre for the Dam. There are Three yacht clubs and two Marinas the famous "Round The Island" yacht race is held at the Lake Deneys Yacht Club. This race has entered the Guinness Book of Records for the most boats in an inland yacht race.

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