READY TO SET SAIL
Local cadet going on tall ship voyage.
Nikolas Starzomski doesn’t have to think long when asked why he wants to sail in a tall ship along the coast of England.
“It’s the mystery of the unknown,” said the member of the Sydney Royal Canadian Sea Cadet squadron. “I’ve never been on any kind of tall ship sailing for any period of time and I was really looking for a new experience. I think this will definitely bring out the best of my seamanship abilities.”
The 17-year-old Howie Centre resident will definitely get the chance to hone those skills later this month when he and 11 other cadets selected from across the country take part in an exchange program with their counterparts in England.
Along with 12 cadets from the U.K., two adult trainees and eight permanent crew, they will take the square-rigged tall ship TS Royalist on a 12-day voyage from Gosport, U.K., through the River Thames to the English Channel to the northern shore of France.
Starzomski, who recently accepted a full four-year scholarship to the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., knows it won’t be a pleasure cruise.
The cadets will have plenty of obligations to fulfil, such as watch duty, navigational responsibilities and even some time at the helm of the 34metre long vessel.
“It’s going to be a lot of hard work but I’m really excited,” he said. “We’re doing a lot of navigation onboard and I can’t wait to get my hands on some of the equipment that they have.”
Lt. Shayne Hall will be escorting the Canadian contingent on the voyage. He said the cadets selected for the trip are “basically the best of the best.” Still, he said, life at sea has its challenges.
“It takes you back and gives you a modern-day appreciation for how back in the 17th and 18th century they used to cross the ocean,” he said.
“It provides a lot of life skills lessons. Living at sea is not an easy thing and you are in living in very close quarters, being part of the team and pulling your weight and doing your watch rotations and that sort of thing. It’s a lot of responsibility and life skills that they’re going to learn to appreciate quickly.”
This isn’t Starzomski’s first time travelling overseas. He went to Europe once before for a school trip and two years ago he won the Vimy Pilgrimage Award, which chose a handful of people from across Canada to attend a fully funded weeklong educational program in Vimy, France, to study Canada’s First World War effort.
The petty officer first class, which is the highest rank you can achieve in the cadets, expects a new version of himself will be making the return trip to Canada.
“I imagine he’s going to be a lot more sea-hardy than he is right now,” he said.