Ahoy RUSI-VI Sailors!

This summer at HMCS Ontario Sea Cadet Summer Training Centre based out of Royal Military College, the Sail Training Vessel Fair Jeanne, a traditionally-rigged brigantine from Bytown Brigantine Inc. was engaged under contract to The Crown to provide tall ship sail training for the cadets.  A program was laid out from 1 July to 8 August for Fair Jeanne to take groups of cadets to sea on Lake Ontario and have them work the ship in a two watch system for a six day period.  The round-the-clock watch-to-bunk-to-watch routine didn’t always work out because of various circumstances that came up, as you can imagine.  But cadets did get aboard ship, and they did get the tall ship experience.

BBI’s Captain Sloan very much believes that a ship should be a sea and under sail as much as possible.  He got the cadets out as far and for as long as he could.  If the cadets’ schedule was only able to handle day sails, then that is what they did.  LGen (Ret’d) Larry Ashley, a BBI Board member, and Simon Fuller, the BBI President, were instrumental in dealing with LCdr J. Lecours and the staff of HMCS Ontario helping them to fine tune the terms of the contract and helping the Sea Cadets design and organize their Tall Ship Program.  Bytown Brigantine has been doing this training with the cadets for the last three years, and the Sea Cadet program has matured significantly in that time resulting in very rewarding experiences for the cadets.

Now that the summer is over, however, the experience does not have to end as it ordinarily would as Fair Jeanne gets laid up for the winter.  To celebrate Fair Jeanne’s 25 years of service, Bytown Brigantine is offering a unique training opportunity during the course of a major southern voyage to be carried out over the winter of 2006-2007.  The voyage will take the ship across the Great Lakes down the Mississippi and on into the Caribbean before returning to Canada up the East Coast participating in the American Sail Training Association’s 2007 Tall Ships Challenge^® Atlantic Coast.

The loop through the western Caribbean promises to be exciting with stops planned in places such as Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Honduras, Belize, and Lake Isabal of Guatemala.  Making this portion of the silver jubilee adventure even more interesting is the 150 Tonne Academy.

In anticipation of the issuance by Transport Canada of a new 150-Tonne Domestic “Ticket” for Masters and Mates of sailing vessels of Canadian registry, Bytown Brigantine will be offering on board Fair Jeanne a unique Training Academy which will prepare participants for Transport Canada 150-Tonne certification. The Academy will be conducted by Canada’s most experienced oceangoing Master under sail, Captain Martyn Clark of Victoria, British Columbia, and his wife Margaret. Captain Clark has sailed over 200,000 kilometres of the world’s oceans under sail, and is the sole qualified Sail Endorsement examiner in Transport Canada’s command certification process. The Academy will be conducted over a key period during which Fair Jeanne will voyage into the Eastern and Western Caribbean on a “Voyage Of Discovery”, providing participants not only with close instructional guidance from Captain Clark, but the practical environment of Trade Wind tropical passage making and island exploration in one of Canada’s most able and well-traveled “tall ships”.

Interested individuals with extensive sailing backgrounds, individuals of a non-sailing background wishing to upgrade their commercial endorsements to the 150-Tonne level, or individuals of modest sailing experience who are interested in working toward a recognized qualification as part of a once-in-a-lifetime experience, are invited to consider inquiring about the 150-Tonne Academy.  The Silver Jubilee Adventure is not geared entirely towards mariners however.

There are voyages (3 months), passages (30 days) within the voyages, legs (~10 days) within the passages, that interested people can sign up for.  With the array of dates available, and embarking / disembarking of trainees planned in ports of call in popular destinations, the planners expect many gap-year students or other young adults to join up.

No sailing experience is required.  Fair Jeanne’s full time crew will be there to help newbies learn the ropes and all the other seamanship skills required such as lookout and helming.  It is hoped that the Sea Cadets will be able to put some cadets on board once the ship is back in Canadian waters. (Imagine the challenge of teaching tall ship sail training to francophone cadets sailing from Halifax to Québec!  All those tall ship terms to know and remember.  In both languages!?!) 

For further information about the 150-Tonne Academy, the Silver Jubilee Voyage of the STV Fair Jeanne, or Bytown Brigantine, contact:

Bytown Brigantine Incorporated
2700 Queensview Drive
Ottawa, Ontario, K2B 8H6
Telephone; (613) 596-6258
website: www.tallshipsadventure.org
email: tallshipinfo@tallshipsadventure.org

    

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© RUSI VI 2006