Two West Shore air cadets are making waves.
Flight sergeant Matthew Brabant and warrant officer second class Cailyn Wilcox recently spent time aboard HMCS Yellowknife.
But it was no easy process to get aboard the ship. The Yellowknife is a Kingston-class coastal defence vessel based out of CFB Esquimalt and has served the Canadian Forces since 1998. To be selected, the cadets, both members of the Langford-based 848 Royal Roads Royal Canadian Air Cadet Squadron, went through a thorough selection process that scrutinized their history of involvement and achievement with cadets.
Brabant was selected to participate in a five-day familiarization sail and Wilcox joined the ranks for an overnight trip. Once aboard, both West Shore cadets found themselves anomalies, surrounded by sea cadets on their respective outings.
Any good-nurtured teasing they endured for being air cadets didn’t seem to dampen their spirits, as both beamed brightly when recalling their adventures. While land-based West Shore residents may think the Yellowknife cuts through open ocean waves, that’s not really the case.
“It’s a lot of movement … It’s so much fun,” Brabant said. “You’re getting three-metre waves and the ship is rolling.”
Wilcox noted one sea cadet in her group actually got very sea sick on the voyage. The ship’s movement makes even ordinary tasks tricky, she added.
“It’s really hard work; the boat is rocking and you’re always doing something … You can’t even trust your cup of coffee sitting on the table, you always have to hold it.”
But it wasn’t just the new environment that tested the local cadets.
“We had a fire,” Wilcox said. “That was the most surreal part of the whole trip … There’s so much adrenaline.” Once the alarms sounded, she had to get from the ship’s bridge down to her muster station on deck, a task that sent her running quite a distance.
With drills conducted regularly aboard the vessel, crew and visitors are kept on their toes. As Brabant noted, “they don’t tell you about drills.”
He was in the midst of a four-hour night watch when alarms started going off. “All of a sudden you hear screaming and you hear ‘man overboard’,” he said. Crew members rushed to the deck to find the missing crew mate and Brabant was told to get down there with a pair of night vision goggles. “I was the first to spot him,” he said, describing the chaos. “They got him in the Zodiac and it was Oscar the dummy.”
Wilcox added with a laugh, “just when you think your watch is done, they throw a drill at you.”
During a different exercise, Brabant was taking a turn as helmsman when he lost all steering capability. “In the engine room they can actually cut your power to the steering,” he said. The experience taught him a lot about communication and the inner workings of the ship, he added.
Brabant’s favourite part of the week was cleaning and maintaining the 50-calibre guns. “It was so much fun taking them apart and seeing how they all fit together.”
Wilcox spent most of her time aboard the vessel stationed at the bridge. Her favourite experience was learning to navigate using the radar system.
While admitting the exercises required a lot of hard work, Brabant noted there were some lighter moments. There were three sets of fishing tackle on hand and when the ship was at anchor and there was some down time, one of the cooks would cast a line over the side. There’s also an onboard charcoal barbecue that crew members fire up from time to time to cook whatever fresh seafood is caught.
As air cadets, Wilcox noted, they get to explore a lot of the other skill sets more often focused on by sea and army cadets. She encourages anyone that may have an interest in the squadron to get involved. Through cadets, she’s travelled around the country for summer camps and other events.
“I have friends from all over Canada,” she said. “I’m actually joining the naval reserves next year because of this (trip).”
Brabant added, “I’ve done so much with cadets I wouldn’t have done.”
Find out more about the squadron by visiting 848royalroadsaircadets.com or call 250-590-3690.
katie@goldstreamgazette.com