O
ne of the most
inspirational tales in our
sport currently is that of
inner city London school,
Greig City Academy
and its ambitious sailing programme.
Competing in its own yacht in last year’s
Rolex Fastnet Race culminated in the
team being voted runners-up in the
Y&Y Awards Youth category. 18-year
old star skipper Montel Fagan-Jordan
was voted YJA Young Sailor of the
Year – a surprising success story given
the Academy’s location close to one
of the capital’s most deprived areas.AMBITIOUS START
Greig City Academy’s sailing programme
began five years ago in dinghies on Poole
Harbour. Just seven students signed
up for the new scheme in a school
where football and basketball are the
regular sports. That the opportunity
existed at all was thanks to a proactive
approach from head of sixth form and
geography teacher, Jon Holt, himself
a sailor since the age of seven.
Subsequently students from
different year groups went afloat as the
programme extended into keelboats,
with the eBay acquisition of a Macgregor- But their most ambitious purchase
was the 1981 Admiral’s Cupper, the
Frers 45 Scaramouche. “The idea was
for her to become the figurehead of
the project and develop teams to race
on that,” says Holt. So in 2017 a Greig
City Academy crew, supported by two
sailors and two teachers, completed the
necessary qualifiers, then campaigned
Scaramouche in the Rolex Fastnet Race
- the only school team to compete.
Most recently, several GCA students
have begun to race Etchells, thanks to
the generosity of David Franks who
runs the Cowes fleet. In this their crew
won four out of six races at the youth
trials and shortly before last year’s Lendy
Cowes Week finished fourth in the
Gertrude Cup. This success led Montel
and his crew, with the support of Franks
and others, to compete in the Etchells
Biscayne Bay series in Miami this winter.
In the first of these they finished 12th
out of 45, beating the US Youth Team.
Another key supporter of their sailing
is Lancashire’s finest: Soling Olympic
bronze medallist, former Whitbread
Round the World Race skipper and
Greig City
Academy’s sailing
success is an
inspiration, as
JAMES BOYD
discovers when he
meets teacher
Jon Holt and star
skipper Montel
Fagan-Jordan
TOP OF
THE CLASS
ALEX & DAVID IRWIN/SPORTOGRAPHY.TVApril 2018 Yachts & Yachting 45