Greig City Academy Sailing Programme announces plans for 2021

The Greig City Academy Sailing Programme (GCA Sailing) which is funded by the Scaramouche Sailing Trust exists to change the lives of young people through the sport of sailing. To achieve their goals, it’s all about getting young people on the water.

During the sequence of lockdowns and lifting of restrictions their more experienced sailors have shown great resilience and bounced back well. The young sailors who have really suffered are the beginners. Their local sailing centre has been closed for over a year which resulted in GCA Sailing unable to run taster sessions for them. With restrictions starting to ease, attention now moves to engage as many young sailors in their programme as possible, including their rapidly developing girl’s programme.

With this in mind, this the plan for the GCA Sailing Programme for the coming months.

Here come the girls! Their girls programme is twofold, they are working with the UKSA in Cowes helping the junior girls learn the basics and start to gain experience. The seniors have taken ‘ownership’ of Scaramouche for the major events including the Dubarry Aquatech Women’s Only Keelboat Championship, Round the Island Race, Cowes Week for which we are the official charity, and the ASTO Small Ships race from Gosport to Dartmouth.

In addition, Scaramouche will be used to take groups of beginner crews out on the water to provide them with a taste of the sport and begin their sailing journey.

The GCA senior boys have been up and running since the minute lockdown finished. They have already raced in their Mini-tonners Riot, Xandt and Eros. Their ambitions for 2021 lie primarily in taking part in the RYA Youth Nationals in Lasers and 420s on the 9th August for which they are entered. They also intend to compete on Riot, Xandt and Eros in the Round the Island Race, Cowes Week and then see whether they can prepare for other keelboat leagues.

This exciting programme is very condensed due to the shortened season. We have therefore come to the decision not to complete in the Rolex Fastnet Race 2021, as the demands of the qualifying races and the race itself would mean much of the above programme would not happen, with the risk of stretching the resources to thinly.

By following the above, the GCA Sailing Programme will look to get as many young people to experience sailing as possible in 2021 and they, with the support of the Scaramouche Sailing Trust, fully intend to return to the Rolex Fastnet Race in 2023.