Seamanship competition

Cadets from 5 Rainbow Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps, along with their coach Paul Hillsden and the North Vancouver Island Area Cadet Instructor Cadre Officer, LCdr Don Irwin, show off the ceremonial paddle they created, and trophy they won at the Zone Inter-Divisional Seamanship Competition held in Comox Jan. 9-10.

Cadets from 5 Rainbow Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps (RCSCC) in Victoria will be competing this spring in the Regional Interdivisional Seamanship Competition after winning the zone competition held Jan.  9 and 10 at HMCS Quadra in Comox.

The 10-person team, along with 109 other cadets from Vancouver Island competed in a variety of seamanship skills: coiling and heaving heavy lines at targets, navigation, semaphore (communication with flags), whipping and splicing rope, knot work, naval trivia, creating a ceremonial paddle with decorative knot work and constructing sheer legs (a mechanical boom to lift a load onto a ship’s deck).

The aim of the event is to encourage cadets to increase their knowledge of seamanship and to provide friendly competition.

The 5 Rainbow RCSCC team was led by team captain CPO2 Alex Hillsden. The winning team was presented with a championship trophy.

They practiced between two and four hours each week to prepare for the event, and plan to continue meeting each week until the regional competition in March.

5 Rainbow RCSCC recently moved from Esquimalt to the James Bay area at HMCS Malahat.

Also participating were Cadets from 54 Admiral DeWolf RCSCC in Campbell River, 64 Malaspina RCSCC in Powell River, 100 Admiral Mainguy RCSCC in Duncan, 109 Alberni RCSCC in Port Alberni, 136 Amphion RCSCC in Nanaimo, 189 Port Augusta RCSCC in Comox, 220 Admiral Budge RCSCC in Sidney, 263 Beacon Hill RCSCC in Langford, 296 Esquimalt RCSCC in Parksville, and 325 Admiral Waller RCSCC in Sooke.