West Shore sea cadets recently made waves at a regatta, biathlon and seamanship competitions.
Commanding Officer of the Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps 263 Beacon Hill, Lt. Cynthia Lawless said she was extremely proud of the cadets.
“They’re quite lively,” she said.
At the Vancouver Island Seamanship competition in January, six cadets competed as a team, claiming fourth place out of 11 teams.
“Which is quite phenomenal… They put a lot of effort into the many components of seamanship,” Lawless said.
The group also came first in navigation and third in trivia, as well as scoring highly in a number of other categories.
“It’s pretty impressive,” she said.
But Seth Ealing, Elizabeth Whittaker, Rhianna Major, Tate Mowbray, Ryan Wiens and Erin Lawless didn’t just impressive with their skills.
They also attracted some attention with their sportsmanship and teamwork, claiming third place for the team spirt award.
“Which is sometimes a little more impressive to win,” Lawless said, “they were very close.”
The West Shore team wasn’t far behind first place in a very tight race for the award, scoring 78.2 per cent, with the winner less than 2 per cent away with a score of 80 per cent.
On different waters, Mowbray was recently selected to compete at a national qualifying regatta.
Twenty competitors from across the province will hit the water Easter weekend and Mowbray was selected from 40 competitors to compete at this event after his performance at another regatta in the fall.
West Shore cadets also competed in the Provincial Biathlon at Mount Washington in January. Wiens was joined by teammate Zeke Huber to represent the local group in this competition.
“This is the first year we’ve competed in biathlon in many, many years,” Lawless said, noting the team did quite well.
Next on the horizon are competitions in marksmanship, first aid and a national qualifying regatta.
Cadets are also preparing to go on an ORCA ship deployment, orienteering meets and for the provincial honour band tour.
“We’re striving to offer something for everyone,” Lawless said.
But this isn’t just limited to physical competitions.
Lawless said community involvement is equally important and the cadets are involved in a number of events, including last weekend’s Wounded Warrior Run.
They even provided an honour guard at a recent Victoria Grizzlies game
katie@goldstreamgazette.com