Cadet Week 2019

Chairmans Welcome

‘Splice the Main Brace!’-it’s our Pirate themed Mersea Cadet Week 2019

      ‘This is the week you will always remember as the week you (definitely) took part in Cadet Week.’

 A rather apt, misquote from Captain Jack.  Somehow Mersea Cadet Week gets better every year.  Also, from the film, ‘This is either madness or brilliance’ (The piles of sailing gear all over the house, garden and car and the warm feeling inside that is impossible to explain to the land lubbers in your life, will be proof of this).

For those new to Cadet Week you are in for one of the best weeks of your life! We are a fun, welcoming and supportive team. By team I mean everyone involved in the week: Cadets, Parents, Sponsors, Committee, both Clubs, Residents and Businesses. Welcome again to those returning. Some families have been involved for decades!

 Mersea Cadet Week is proof that ‘Not all treasure is Silver and Gold’. The true treasure is friendship. Sailing, and particularly sailing here, creates life-long and deep friendships. We are delighted that the prize giving this year, with a fair wind, will be with Saskia Clark MBE and her lifelong friends she made on this magical island through sailing.

Mersea Cadet Week is one of the UK’s longest running and largest Club sailing events in the UK. This is something the whole Island should be very proud of. The Viking Trophy was first awarded in 1934 making the event 85 years old this year. Look out for a piece by Richard Matthews on the early days.

We are very grateful to all our sponsors, particularly Micro Scooters and The Royal Hospital School. Their support means that Mersea Cadet Week continues to be the cheapest Cadet Week on the East Coast.

‘The Code is more what you would call guidelines than actual rules.’ Sailing has always been a self-policing sport where sportsmanship and fair play underpin the sport we love. Congratulate those who do well and support those who may need it. There is nothing more heart-warming than seeing an older Cadet helping a younger sailor up the beach with their boat or spending 10 minutes in the morning offering rigging or sailing tips.

Please can you be also ‘PROUD Pirates Against Plastics’ this year by continuing to look after our waters and waterside by disposing of your rubbish responsibly. Mother ships will have large flagons of water for you to refill your own reusable water bottles and I would ask all sailors to join the committee at the Yacht Club on Saturday 3^rd August at 9am for the ‘big tidy up’.

Finally, I would like to thank all of the Mersea Cadet Week Committee for their passion and dedication to Mersea Cadet Week. It takes a whole year to plan this event. If you see them during the week, please say thank you as it goes a long way. They represent everything that is special about ‘The Tropical’ that we are lucky enough to call home.

‘Follow your gut and achieve your goals. Carpe Diem, me hearties!’

Dom Barnes