A GROUP of sea cadets have been left devastated after vandals broke in and slashed one of their boats “to pieces”.

The safety boat, which cost £7,000 and took Christchurch Sea Cadets a year to fundraise for, was slashed five times after the fence at the premises near the Quay was broken sometime between Friday March 2 and Tuesday March 6.

It now needs new tubes, which will cost the charity a further £3,000, and means the youngsters cannot be taken out on the water.

Chairman Alex Drummond said: “It was a relatively new safety boat aswell.

“We are a charity, we don’t get any money from the Navy and we raised £7,000 in order to get that boat.

“Some little whippersnappers have smashed down the fence and not just slashed it once, but five times.

“It’s another £3,000 to sort it out and we haven’t got £3,000.”

The boat was just two years old and was taken out, alongside another safety vessel, to ensure the young cadets were safe while training on the water.

Without it, the 72 members of the unit will be restricted to dry land.

Alex added: “We have ordered the tubes but they take six weeks to be delivered, so the members’ training will be delayed.

“The nights are getting lighter and the kids all want to get out on the water now, but they can’t.

“The fence has also been damaged.

“We are trying to raise money to get the fence made higher and we’ve got permission from Christchurch Borough Council, but that’s another £7,000 and we just haven’t got that money.

“The kids can’t understand why anyone would want to vandalise charity equipment.

“They are asking ‘why would anyone want to do that?’ and that’s quite hard to answer.”