Inspiring Youth in Antigua

Antigua Sailing Week announced that the Greig City Academy (GCA) from London, UK would be competing at the upcoming edition of the regatta. Pupils from the school in the London Borough of Haringey will compete in Cork 1720 Valiant owned by the National Sailing Academy of Antigua & Barbuda, whose youth squad will also be competing in an identical boat, Spirit.

The Youth to Keelboat Programme (Y2K) was launched in January 2018 by the Antigua & Barbuda Sailing Association (ABSA) in conjunction with Antigua Sailing Week. The program is aimed at giving young adults aged 16-25 years keelboat experience during Antigua Sailing Week.

The image of sailing as a sport for old men in blue blazers has been a hard one to shake off. However, the London inner-city school, with 75% of the children officially classed as under-privileged, has done just that. The Greig City Academy shot to fame in 2017 as the first Comprehensive State School team to compete and finish the Rolex Fastnet Race, and their achievements have not been a one-hit wonder.

Greig City Academy’s Project Scaramouche have excelled in a number of sailing events and one of their number, 17-year old Montel Fagan-Jordan, was awarded the 2017 Young Sailor of the Year trophy by the Yachting Journalists’ Association (YJA), which has been previously won by Olympic Gold medalists Ben Ainslie and Shirley Robertson.

Youth sailing in Antigua has grown exponentially in recent years, due to the creation of the National Sailing Academy which enables every secondary school island-wide to offer sailing as part of the national curriculum. The program has produced an increasing number of youths with dinghy sailing experience, but for many, that is where their sail racing ends. The Youth to Keelboat Programme (Y2K) seeks to bridge the gap and help them make the leap to gaining keelboat experience, not just as sport or leisure option, but also as a career within the maritime world.

Assistant Principal of the Greig City Academy, Paul Letford will accompany the team of six pupils, aged from 14-17 years old. “It is a tremendous honor to be invited to take part in Antigua Sailing Week. Many of our students and their families have strong links with the Caribbean,” commented Letford.

“Our local community will take great pride in the fact that we are representing North London at such a prestigious international regatta. This represents a major step forward for the Greig City Academy (CGA) sailing project and is a definite highlight of our 2018 season.

“The Y2K program has many parallels with what we do here at GCA Sailing. In return, we have invited participants from the Y2K program the opportunity to compete at Lendy Cowes Week aboard Scaramouche, our 45ft Frers racing yacht.”

Letford went on to say, “Our team for Antigua Sailing Week will include four of the Fastnet team and three younger crew who have been training over the winter and show great promise.”

The Greig City Academy will be competing in the CSA Racing division against teams from 25 countries from around the world. The National Sailing Academy team competing against their UK counterparts will be skippered by 19-year old Jules Mitchell who has already represented Antigua & Barbuda at multiple Youth World Championships and aspires to represent Antigua & Barbuda at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Of the potential match race opportunity with Valiant and the Greig City Academy, Mitchell says, “I have followed the story of the team from when they competed in Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race. We are really excited to host them in Antigua and to race against them head to head. It’s going to add real excitement to our class this year.”

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About Antigua Sailing Week
Antigua Sailing Week is held annually at the end of April and the 51st edition will commence with the Peters & May Round Antigua Race on Saturday, April 28, 2018. Following that will be five days of competitive racing off the rugged south coast of Antigua, which will wrap up on Friday, May 4, 2018. Antigua Sailing Week is considered one of the Caribbean’s most prestigious regattas with 145 yachts participating in 2017. The second annual Antigua to Bermuda Race starts May 9, 2018. For more information visit http://www.antiguabermuda.com

About Greig City Academy (GCA Sailing)
Greig City Academy (GCA Sailing), home of Project Scaramouche the first Comprehensive State School to compete in the Rolex Fastnet Race [2017], winners of the Musto Media Prize, the RYA Award for Endeavour 2017 and the school of Montel Fagan Jordan, YJA Young Sailor of the Year and Seahorse Sailor of the Month.

GCA Sailing is the school project based in Haringey North London, giving their students the opportunities to develop sailing as a life-long interest and improve the life chances of the young people at the school. GCA Sailing has sought yachting expertise and advice along the way. In doing so, they have surrounded themselves with a team of official sponsors and supporters who provide a continuous source of expert knowledge, and combined this enabled Scaramouche to succeed in the Rolex Fastnet Race 2017 and beyond.

Source: Event Media