Scaramouche, the yacht which most recently sailed to fame with Greig City Academy during the Rolex Fastnet Race 2017 will be at The Yacht Market Southampton Boat Show from Friday 14th through to Saturday 23rd September.

Their accolades speak for themselves with Montel Fagan-Jordan first helmsman during the Rolex Fastnet Race winning the YJA Young Sailor of the Year 2017. Their achievements have been recognised by RORC, the RYA, Royalty and event organisers. Earlier this year, the crew were guests of Antigua Race Week, competing in the event alongside the Y2K Programme in a Cork 1720. At the top end, Montel is gaining work experience with Alex Thomson Racing, and Camilo Orobio has been competing on Redshift Reloaded with mentoring from David Carr. At the grassroots level, the project is gaining great traction, and with the Tuesday afternoon sailing sessions oversubscribed at the local reservoir in London, there is no shortage of future upcoming crew. But what does the future hold?

The Scaramouche Sailing Project has three goals:

1. To introduce sailing to the pupils of Greig City Academy
2. To provide a pathway to enable sailing as a lifelong interest
3. To make known the diversity of sailing opportunities available to schools

“These three goals are pivotal in what we do going forward,” explains Jon Holt, founder of the project and head of geography at Greig City Academy. “We have a growing fleet of boats, and it is important that we support the project at all levels, from grassroots, up to the elite sailors on professional campaigns.” The project is keen to connect with schools to inspire them into looking at the opportunities of setting up similar projects. Being involved in the project has changed the lives of those at the school, the numbers speak for themselves. Jon is keen to show that if an inner-city academy from London can achieve this, anyone can.

• All Year 13 students involved in the Scaramouche project won places at their first-choice universities.
• All of the year 11 students involved in the Scaramouche Project achieved the required grades to enter for their chosen course of post 16 education.

The project has primarily been financially supported by Pioneer Underwriters since 2017. The team have also had access to a number of trust funds where donations have helped specific elements of the project grow. “When I first set up the project the goal was to help the students at GCA have access to sailing and see it as a lifelong interest, in reality, we have achieved so much more. Every day we are being offered new opportunities and it’s about finding a balance. We want to show that sailing is accessible to schools, and at all levels. I don’t think we have done a bad job so far. The Rolex Fastnet Race 2017 really was just the beginning.”

Scaramouche is all-inclusive, and is open to all during the show, to come on board and speak with the young crew. If you would specifically like a meeting with Jon, please arrange this via lou@boxpr.co.uk or on 07971688151.

Jon Holt, talks about the plans for the future, aiming for back to back Rolex Fastnet Campaigns, by entering Scaramouche in 2019, as well as looking at the opportunities for a transatlantic race in the not too distant future.

Individuals can pledge their support to help the project take advantage of all opportunities working towards their goals https://www.gofundme.com/scaramouche.