By Ian Mackintosh
Over the past two years, the Port Owen Yacht Club has encouraged and supported several young people from Laaiplek and Noordhoek who attend S.A. Sea Cadets at “Training Ship Saldanha” in Saldanha Bay.
The moving force behind the POYC support program is Blokkies Loubser with monetary support from Michael Robinson, the President of SA Sailing and cadet transport paid for by the SA Sea Cadets NPC.
For those unfamiliar with the Sea Cadets program, it can be broadly likened to the Boy Scouts and Sea Scouts movements of old, but with greater emphasis on vocational training to prepare these young people for a career in the marine sector, i.e. fishing industry, merchant navy, marine support industry, and the Navy itself.
In addition to vocational training, it also focuses heavily on personal values, accountability, and self-reliance to help mould young people from difficult communities into confident and positive members of society as they mature through the programme.
One of the key elements of the Cadets programme is the sailing element, which teaches boat handling, sailing, and seamanship.
In the case of T.S. Saldanha, this part of the programme is party provided by the Saldanha Bay Yacht Club (SBYC) Sailing Academy which is situated adjacent to T.S. Saldanha.
Over the weekend of the 17th, 18th, and 19th of January 2025, Blokkies and I (Ian Mackintosh) took SV Footloose (an L34 sailing yacht) down to Saldanha Bay with the intention of sailing back to Laaiplek / Port Owen with four of the POYC supported Cadets. This was a great opportunity and adventure for the 4 young people, none of whom had ever even seen the inside of an offshore capable sailing vessel, much less been to sea aboard one.
The four adventurers were Nicky Carolus, A-Jay Davids, Dywayne Claassen, and Jay Jay Spies – all 17 years old.
The four came aboard Footloose on Saturday afternoon after Cadet training to prepare for the voyage.
After a very detailed safety briefing provided by Blokkies and covering every aspect of safety aboard the vessel, lines were slipped for a late afternoon session of basic boat handling and man overboard drills. It was remarkable how quickly the group developed their skills to the point where they could carry out a full man overboard drill without involvement of the two instructors.
On Sunday morning, Footloose was prepared for sea: lines were slipped at 07:00h and we departed for Laaiplek Harbour and Port Owen.
The weather was relatively calm and clear, although the sea state was unsettled due to previous heavy weather. Nevertheless, the intrepid group were soon hard at work learning helming skills, maintaining a course, and the basics of coastal navigation using a chart plotter, filling in an hourly logbook, some basic rope work, the parts of the vessel, etc. They were fortunate to see a lot of wildlife with seals, dolphins, whales (Humpback and Southern Right whales), sunfish, and many different species of birds.
An interesting and educational trip ended at the POMA holding jetty in the Berg River at 16:30h in the afternoon, where the cadets were met by excited families wanting to know all the details of the trip. There were some huge smiles going around, as well as a great deal of excited chatter, which was clear evidence that the group had found the trip challenging, fun, and very worthwhile.
Blokkies and I were gratified seeing the excitement which made the exercise worthwhile and we plan on repeating the trip regularly over the next few months to further develop this initial group, but also to expose others to the joys of coastal cruising.
A very big shout out to Blokkies for this initiative and a huge shout out to the four young sailors who enthusiastically took part in this pilot run!