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
programme is aimed at giving youths aged 16-25 years keelboat experience
during Antigua Sailing Week. Supporting this effort and sponsoring the
Y2K programme is Global Bank of Commerce.
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 underprivileged, 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.
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 underprivileged, 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 has 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
medallists 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 programme 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 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 honour 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 sailing project and is a definite highlight of our 2018 season. The Y2K programme has many parallels with what we do here at GCA Sailing. In return, we have invited participants from the Y2K programme 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. Antigua Sailing Week, the National Sailing Academy and Global Bank of Commerce have shown amazing generosity in supporting our visit."
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."
For information please go to:
Website: http://www.sailingweek.com
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.
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 honour 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 sailing project and is a definite highlight of our 2018 season. The Y2K programme has many parallels with what we do here at GCA Sailing. In return, we have invited participants from the Y2K programme 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. Antigua Sailing Week, the National Sailing Academy and Global Bank of Commerce have shown amazing generosity in supporting our visit."
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."
For information please go to:
Website: http://www.sailingweek.com
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.
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