sea scouts or sea cadets

Phoenix of Hamble

Phoenix of Hamble

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 Aug 2003
Messages
20,966
Location
East Coast
mishapsandmemories.blogspot.com
My daughter is showing an active interest in joining the local sea cadet unit, which I am naturally keen to encourage... she is very enthusiastic, excited by the activities they seem to undertake, and very keen to make friends that share boaty type interests...

I, as a youngster benefited from great experiences, good friends, and I believe, a healthy respect for others through a long and throughly enjoyable time as a scout... and it got me to wondering whether people have an opinion as to the differences between sea scouts and sea cadets, as we are lucky enough to have both locally.... we don't particularly know anybody in either organisation, so no real issues in jumping either way....
 
Sea Cadets in Lincoln seem to do the kids a lot of good plenty of boaty stuff and training up to PB2
they also raise a lot of their own funds
We,at Lincoln Boat Club sponsor a trip for a couple of cadets to do their PB2 at the coast
If you are ever in Lincoln on a Friday come for a drink at our clubhouse /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

cheers Joe
 
Thoroughly enjoyed my time in Sea Cadets ..... got to Leading Seaman and also solo Drummer in the band ....

We used to have a cutter and Pulling Boat / dinghys / canoes on a large lake nearby .... excellent .... enjoyed the outward bound bit, went shooting with Army etc.

Yep - recc'd ....
 
Used to be a Sea Scout oh so many years ago....

I think that Sea Scouts evolved from the scouting organistion, Baden Powell and all that, whilst Sea Cadets came from the Navy.

Could be wrong so withhold the flame throwers please..
 
As I am still serving RN I ought to encourage Sea Cadets - but the reality is that it depends very much on the character of the people involved. Ask around and ask how other young people get on with the local units. If one has enthusiastic helpers/volunteers who are good at organising and enthusing the young people, go with that one might be the best advice?

All things being equal, the sea cadets should do lots of boaty things, but with an emphasis on learning about the RN. (Don't dismiss it, as we subsidise the activities and there are lots of chances to go and visit ships, go sailing at Whale Island, go on TS Royalist and other yachts etc) There will be a very modest amount of drill and lots of 'seamanship' taught.

Someone else will have to tell you about Sea Scouts...
 
Thanks All...

John, Thats pretty much what I had concluded...as ever, its down to the individuals....

I do like the idea of the Sea Cadets, given the obvious opportunities that must create with the RN association....

But just a lingering loyalty to the Scouts..... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Anyone with a Sea Scouts perspective to add?
 
I go to 1st cleethorpes sea scouts and it is brilliant, there is lots of water activities as well as other things we do kayaking, sailing, powerboating, canal boating and normal scout things like knots, camping, and first aid amongst much more. The best few sea scout groups have royal navy recognition which means they meet a high standard which is inspected by a Navy officer every 1 or 2 years, good thing to look out for if there is more than one group in your area. Can be indentified by a Badge on the uniform that is an anchor or them flying a red ensign with the scout symbol.
 
Have you seen that lovely sea scout boat going up and down the Orwell - I'd get invloved just to spend a few days cruising in that.

I did sea scouts in South Africa when I grew up - if it's along the same lines (which is probably is, but modernsied) I would vouch for it. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned an amazing amount.

Must admit that I know almost nothing about sea cadets so can't really compare.
 
Not much help to you, but you brought back some memories...........

I lasted a day in the Seascouts.

But then again I had come from the cubs (the land forces /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif)........ and having spent 2/3 years (seemed longer /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif) left with a bronze arrow(?), which I think that they "gave" to me. My best mate left with 3 arrows, an armful of badges and as a "sixer" (?).

Guess I was never going to be one for a life in uniform /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Although I remember the only "camp" I was allowed to go on, involved me running around butt naked at 3am in the morning and refusing to go to sleep.......and I was quite happy to take up the the "threat" of being made to walk home on my own at 3am..............so given recent events maybe I should I have joined the marines /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Happy days indeed. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
Funnily enough my dear old mom brought out my old sea scout uniform when she visited earlier this year ( and before you ask I have no idea why she kept it ro why she thought I woudl want it). It did bring back some great memories and gave me a good opportunity to share camp stories with my son.

It was very funny to see all the badges again (some useful and some just daft, but fun).
 
I sailed on the Royalist in 77, had a great time for 10 days. I won the place on board having completed my pilots badge in the sea scouts which enabled me to enter a navigation competion up against the sea cadets.

From what I could tell the cadets was more disciplined with an emphasis on navy careers whereas the sea scouts was more about young lads getting involved in activities.
 
Some Sea Scout troops are Royal Navy qualified which means they are subject to regular inspections. Whilst this is mainly ceremonial it does mean that they offer more than a defined minimum level of nautical activities.
Both organisations generally offer a "try before you buy" facility for prospective recruits to attend a few meetings. Why not let your daughter go along to both and see which one she prefers. This will give her a flavour of the activities undertaken.

Don't expect her to stay all the way through - both my eldest daughters attended Sea Scouts but they lost interest after a couple of years. I think that it was the marked differences between boys and girls aged 13/14 - they found the boys rather immature in their behaviour. Maybe the Sea Cadets are able to compensate for this with additional discipline but I suspect there are limits to what they can do.
 
From limited personal contact plus some hearsay, the cadets can have quite a stronger bent towards shiny boots and parades, links with RN is the strength. local sea scouts were brilliant ; very active in dinghy sailing and followed it up with seamanship stuff ashore. Guess that it depends on staff - enthusiasm and willingness to raise thge funds, especially for the scouts, will make a difference.
 
It really depends on what you have locally. Some are amazingly well run, have lots of contacts, and kids go off all over the world. Others just do rote routines. Check out what they do each year for an idea of what is available from both.
 
I am an ASL with 25th Southampton Sea Scouts, so far it has been a great experience - a bit of a change after 8 years as a Beaver leader!

As it has been said before, the top Sea Scout groups are recognised by the Navy, so you have extra funds each year, access to many MOD/Navy facilities, a special Navy annual camp. As far as I can see, a Naval-recognised Scout unit can offer just as much in the way of activities as a Sea Cadet unit, we are just slightly less strict on the uniform, marching, and all that sort of stuff.

However, the activities do very much depend on the instructors qualifications. We do a lot of power boating, sailing and canoeing - I am a powerboat instructor, we have 2 sailing instructors and 1 canoe instructor. The Group Leader is also a qualified Mountain leader, amongst many other things. So as a group, we can do pretty much anything, and us instructors are always keen to organise camps and activities, with something decent happening most months, whether they are cycle camps, trek cart camps, boat trips, shooting.

As far as I am concerned, each unit can only offer what their instructors are allowed to run, so if you particularly want to be able to go mountain climblimg or something, it is probably worth checking.

Hope this helps,

Paul
 
Well, daughter number 1 is going along Friday evening for her first taster of sea cadets... sounds fun... and she is terribly excited about it... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif... really nice as a sailing dad to see her so enthusiastic about sailing related activities..../forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
um, call me old fashioned but when I was in Sea Scouts, it was for chaps only and girls went to Guides. Mind you, we had some very enjoyable joint camping weekends, especially when we were allowed to go without the leaders ! /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
The age ranges have changed in Scouting in the last few years. Scouts (and Sea Scouts) now runs up to the age of 14. After that, there is Explorer Scouts (and indeed Explorer Sea Scouts), which run up to age 18. Both sections admit both boys and girls.

The Sea Scouts and Explorer Sea Scouts have uniforms which are closer to those of the Navy.

I'm a leader with a Royal Navy recognised Explorer Sea Scout Unit. We try to adopt some RN tradition and discipline but our aims and objectives are still rooted in Scouting. For those of you with kids who were put off Scouting, the new age ranges were introduced to combat this problem. We also now have a programme which includes the well known Duke of Edinburgh award scheme, which wasn't previously used in Scouting. In our Unit, for example, we have kids doing their DoE expeditions on water, typically on one of the yachts owned by the Scout Association (they have a very nice, modern SeaStream 45 in the Solent).

It's possible to join Sea Scouts or Explorer Sea Scouts without having previously been through Cubs etc.

Sea Scouting is active inland as well as in coastal areas. I'm based in the Midlands and Sea Scouting is thriving in our area.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top