Drawing on 10 years achievement and reaching the top of their sport, Greig City Academy’s student sailors offer vital lessons on inclusion

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The trail-blazing Greig City Academy (GCA) sailing programme is celebrating its ten year anniversary with two new reports: Waves of Change and Lessons Learned.

“Waves of Change” charts the programme’s extraordinary story against the odds and how it grew from buying a tired out 22ft yacht off e-Bay into the UK’s leading school sailing programme.

Over 10 years, GCA’s students, who come from one of the most deprived parts of the country, have consistently broken new ground. They set a new benchmark as the first ever state school to compete in the Fastnet – twice, in 2017 and 2019.

Student Jaydon Owusu from GCA said “I was going nowhere with school. But since I started sailing, I’ve achieved more than most people I know.” He has recently secured a four-year superyacht cadetship with UKSA.

A total of 950 students have been through the programme. GCA students have won silverware at Cowes Week and raced in world championships. Now they are involved in SailGP, the ultimate global racing series. It is completely different to the opportunities normally on offer in Haringey, inner city North London.

The “Waves of Change” report lifts the veil on all the extraordinary work behind the scenes that made it possible. The programme has been driven by the exceptional determination and commitment of their lead teacher, Jon Holt. By and large, he has had to make his own way, rather than following the established pathways.

Jon said, “Much of it happened by the same trial and error which I applied to building my home-made dinghy. But the dinghy did work and so do I feel has our sailing programme. Our students have shown they are equal to any one else in the country. We are still learning and improving, with much more to do in the future.”

Jon and the students have been warmly welcomed by the sailing world. Many people have been inspired to make amazing contributions. The programme’s success has been a real team effort, from donations of expertise, vital funds and kit through to an entire quarter-tonner yacht. The Scaramouche Sailing Trust was set up as a new charity to support it.

As the “Lessons Learned” report says: “Once the students reached the starting line, people went out of their way to help them. But hardly any young people of colour ever reach the starting line in the first place – or even know anything about sailing at all.”

At the same time, running the programme has been a hand-to-mouth business. The report notes that fundraising remains a constant challenge and “the charity and the sailing programme’s financial sustainability and future operation cannot be taken for granted.”

With its distinctive red stripe, GCA’s 45ft flagship Scaramouche is a familiar sight on the Solent. It is widely recognised as a symbol of ethnic diversity in the sport. And now young people of colour from GCA are regularly seen on the streets of Cowes.

But, as “Lessons Learned” sets out, they remain the exception, not the rule. It is still rare to see people of colour out on the water, involved in sailing. Many structural barriers remain, in the sport and education and society at large.

The GCA programme has shown just how much people from disadvantaged backgrounds can benefit from everything sailing has to offer and excel at the sport. But it provides an inspiration for what can be done, not a blueprint for doing it at scale.

The report sets out 12 key lessons from GCA’s programme. They cover everything from working with schools and sail training organizations through to creating specific opportunities for girls. They set out the every day barriers to sailing faced by students of colour from a deprived area, and are accompanied by ideas for building on GCA’s experience.

The report ends with a call to action for the sport of sailing as a whole to recognise these structural barriers and develop new practical solutions at larger scale.

It concludes, “Wouldn’t it be something if sailing could respond to one of the greatest social challenges of our times, and systematically create life-enhancing opportunities for young people from all ethnic backgrounds?”

The Scaramouche Sailing Trust charity does not claim to have all the answers. But it stands ready to work with others on this shared endeavour.

Contacts:

• Press enquiries – Lou Johnson, Box PR Ltd, lou@boxpr.co.uk 07971688151
• Brid Barrett, Manager, Scaramouche Sailing Trust, brid@scaramouchesailing.org.uk 07933 974934
• Interviews available