The ceremony was conducted in two phases. To start, staff and invitees gathered on the small boat floats adjacent to building N126, where they heard remarks from the guest of honour, Rear-Admiral (RAdm) Christopher Robinson, Commander Maritime Forces Pacific.
“We’ve known for a while the new boats were coming, but now that they’re being rigged in Vancouver, they are no longer just an idea: they’ve become something tangible,” said Lieutenant (Navy) (Lt(N)) Ellery Down, RCN Sail Program Coordinator, during a recent inspection of the two yet-to-be-named Bavaria C45 sailboats at a contractor facility on Granville Island.
‘Time and tide wait for no one’ is an age-old adage that encourages us to seize opportunities when they arise while reminding us that, despite human aspiration, things are beyond our control. The motto is particularly relevant to the summer programme at Naval Fleet School Quebec (NFS(Q))
During the forenoon of July 26, Captain (Navy) (Capt(N)) Matthew Coates, Commander Naval Training Group, presided over a ceremony that saw the command of HMCS Venture pass from Commander (Cdr) Mike Stefanson to Cdr Darren Sleen.Guests, including friends, family, and military colleagues past and present, gathered before the Collier Building at Work Point. The site was selected for its proximity to an important artifact, the mast of a past HMCS Venture that served as a naval officer training vessel just before the outbreak of the Second World War.