Team building activity helps cadets prepare for life at sea

V.Group’s UK cadets sponsored by the Maritime Educational Foundation (MEF) were introduced to their new career with the Merchant Navy through a four-day outdoor team building exercise in the UK’s stunning Lake District area.

The three cadets – Richie Sundborg, Mark Mousakitis and Anthony Stephenson are part of a cohort of nine UK cadets being recruited this year by V.Group’s ship management business V.Ships. They participated along with other MEF sponsored cadets from Chiltern Maritime, SSTG Careers and Clyde Marine Training.

Richie, inspired to pursue a career at sea by his father who is also in the Merchant Navy, said: “The experience was a constant learning and I found it exciting and helpful to be put in an environment where you knew no-one at first but by the end were friends with everyone.

“The skills of meeting new people and adapting very quickly in new situations will definitely help me when joining a vessel.”

Mark who was also inspired to join the Merchant Navy by his father’s engineer background echoes this learning: “The course taught me to communicate my ideas to the group and actually make a difference in what we did. I enjoyed meeting new people and working together to meet the tasks we were given – I imagine this will be invaluable when on board.”

Anthony who was inspired to join the Merchant Navy following a presentation at school added: “While I still have much to learn, this course really helped me provide clear instructions. We were given excellent friendly advice and constructive criticism to give us something to build on in the future.”

Lee Clarke, V.Group’s cadet training officer attended the course along with the cadets and concluded: “This was a fantastic event and it was great to see our new cadets come together with their peers in such a beautiful environment. The weather was very kind to us given the location and time of year and this definitely helped add to the enjoyment.

"Outward Bound Trust is an educational charity that uses the outdoors to help develop young people. This course was aimed at helping our cadets be more confident, more effective and more capable in developing into officers of the future."