Leading Cadet Valentino Copaban (left) learning how to hoist blocks and tackles at the Red Deer Sea Cadets Seamanship Training at the Cormack Armoury on Saturday. (rdnewsNOW/Alessia Proietti)

By Alessia Proietti

Seamanship Training

Red Deer’s Royal Canadian Sea Cadets put teachings to practice at the Cormack Armoury

Feb 12, 2023 | 9:00 AM

Red Deer’s Royal Canadian Sea Cadets were putting their teachings into practice at the Cormack Armoury on Saturday during Seamanship Training.

On Saturday, cadets from Corps 126 trained inland in rope work, knot tying, securing sails and practicing other quintessential sea cadet skills before their competition-style test in March.

Captain Eryn Beddoes, Commanding Officer, says the jam-packed day is a unique one for the cadets as they get to practice larger and more hands-on skills with the equipment at the Armoury (4402 55 St.).

Cadet Daniel Raymond, 12, enjoyed learning how to hoist blocks and tackles at the seamanship training as it’s used to transport objects onto boats. Five months into the program himself, he shares that his mother was also in the cadets in her youth and encouraged her children to join a cadet of their choice — either air, sea or army.

Referring to himself as a “sea person,” Raymond has fun in the program, enjoys learning and hopes to become a Coxswain, the highest ranking cadet position.

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The Sea Cadet youth program is year-round, beginning with a sailing weekend in September. Inland training runs weekly until June before summer training which consists of practicing sailing on Sylvan Lake, or “our local sea,” as Beddoes likes to say.

Red Deer’s Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps 126 (Supplied)

For Cadet Justin Campbell, 12, the weekend sailing camp was his favourite part of his first year in the program. A fan of all things water, he hopes to join the military after the cadets and learn specifically how to drive various vehicles.

Beddoes says during weekly meetings, sea cadet traditions are followed such as ringing the ship’s bell and raising/lowering the flag at the beginning and end of each meeting. Cadets are provided with their uniforms and learn how to properly wear them, sew badges, complete drills, develop nautical skills like rigging and rope work, the history of the cadets, the phonetic alphabet, and more.

Cadets complete multiple phases throughout their years of training; but for Beddoes, the best part is learning about leadership.

“As you go through the program, you get more in-depth in specific skills, and as you get older, you learn how to actually teach the cadets. There’s more of a leadership component as they get older and as they progress with the program, so we’re developing them to become leaders,” she explains.

Beddoes says cadets can join at any point from 12-19, as she did in Victoria, B.C. when she was 15. Encouraged by a friend in the program, she never looked back, helping in various army and sea corps since.

“There are certainly reasons I’ve been with the program as long as I have. The skills that you learn, the experience that kids get, you can’t get it anywhere else, and being able to watch kids’ progress through the program and see the changes and what they have learned, the life skills they take with them the rest of their life — it’s priceless and wonderful to be a part of that.”

There are also various opportunities for cadets to increase their sailing experience as their skill level increases.

Red Deer’s Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps 126 (Supplied)

“I just want to join the navy when I’m older; it speaks to me,” said Leading Cadet Valentino Copaban. “I don’t know how to describe it.”

The 14-year-old says after his first year in the program, he has fallen in love with it, especially a Field Training Exercise trip he did with both air and army cadets. An avid canoeist in the summer, he hopes to learn endurance and navy skills during his time as a sea cadet.

Anyone interested can visit their inland training meetings every Thursday from 6:30-9:30 p.m. at the Armoury. The program is completely free.