Why do they rig sheers in sea cadets?

[Kat Stevens]

Or, perhaps, if the leaders of your corps were to make it a semi regular thing, rather than taking the easy way out and put them on the square every night, then it will be used again, won't it?  On my TQ3 and 5A, we built all manner field engines, aerial ropeway, gyn and shear, single pole derrick, etc.  Did I ever have to build one in real life? No.  Was it an interesting exercise in teamwork, knowledge, and even a little physics?  You bet.  If you can get Ontario hydro or whoever to donate a half dozen poles and a few miles of rope, the kiddies may get to do something out of the ordinary.  I was a sea cadet too, and other than my two weeks in Quadra, I have never set foot on a whaler or a cutter.

 

[reccecrewman]

I have to echo what Kat Stevens says.  Just because your flotilla doesn't put any emphasis on Sheers by not having competitions, doesn't mean you can't have inter-corps competitions.  My old corps and virtually every corps I know are broken down into "sub-units". Guard, Colour Party, Gunscrew and Band.  Have annual or semi-annual competitions of the different skills the cadets learn within the unit.  In '97 my Corps got an Army cadet WO who brought a wide range of skills the sea cadets don't learn, but the leadership in the corps utilized her skills to teach the youngsters skills sea cadets don't normally get - but her transfer to us gave our young cadets another broad scope of things to learn.  Map & Compass was the big one, and on week-end adventure training we had 2 or 3 times a year up near Camp Ipperwash, the cadets got to practice their skills learned in the classroom. Will they ever use these skills again? Maybe yes, maybe no, but it was the leadership who ensured that as cadets, they would use that skill again.

Regards

 

[Sailing Instructor]

Thank you all, you have convinced me that sheers are a useful part of the training programme.  How many of your units have the infrastructure for sheers?  (The whole device, I mean, not just lashing two poles together and saying, 'OK, that's as far as we can go....')

 

[bLUE fOX]

Repulse, Courageous, Lion, Adm Nelles, Agamemnon are just a few of the ones I've been to who can support that, and if any corps has access to a yard and some stakes they can build one outside. A gin needs even less.

 

[ryanmann356]

It seems as though there is alot of things people learn that they think is useless.  When I was learning my knots and lashings i thought that it was lame and that I would never have to use it, but I was suprised at how handy that skill was.
But knowing this doesnt change some peoples attitude towards other skills such as map and compass  :

 

[392]

You know, just along the road leading to the back gate in Petawawa there is a large tri-pod rigged up for Lord-knows-what.  It looks very suspiciously like a shearlegs set-up.

I believe that's used by the Brigade Tug-of-War Team for practice (put giant weight in centre and tug).....