Inner-city London schoolkids compete against yachting elite after buying boat on Ebay

"Being in landlocked London, you don't really know what sailing is," smiles Azat Ulutas, a student at inner-city school Greig City Academy when talking to Olympics.com in July about the first time he took to the water. "I thought initially I was going to come and do some rowing. I had no idea what a sailboat was."

"To be honest with you, we were a bit scared," reveals fellow GCA pupil Jaydon Owusu, "never having been on the water before and being on a big boat thinking, 'Well how is the boat going to stay up, are we going to capsize?'"

That would be Azat Ulutas, the 2019 Yachting Journalist Association Young Sailor of the Year finalist and Jaydon Owusu who is currently eyeing a career as a superyacht captain.

The teenagers were reminiscing at a reception during the iconic Cowes Week regatta, hosted by the Scaramouche Sailing Trust, a charity set up to help fund the school's youth initiative for underprivileged and minority kids.

Of taking to the water in a 22-foot-long boat named Riot on his first trip out, and sailing 10 nautical miles from Southampton on England's south coast to the Isle of Wight, from where he was now speaking, Ulutas continued: "I was a bit surprised. I thought it was going to be on like a little river or a reservoir or something, but then ended up in that massive Solent."

Ah, the Solent. That'll be the major shipping lane for passenger, freight, and military vessels, but also an important recreational area for watersports, particularly sailing, including the annual Cowes Week regatta. Featuring 40 daily races for 2,500 competitors on about 500 boats, the skill level ranges from Olympic and world-class professionals to weekend sailors, and it's the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world.

It's also where kids from an inner-city London school have started making waves.

Not so plain sailing

Greig City Academy's Scaramouche Youth Sailing Project began in 2014 when the school's outdoor education teacher, Jon Holt, took a small number of students sailing. It was quite the undertaking, heading to Poole on England's south coast, about a three-hour's drive from their north London base – traffic dependent.

Happy memories on the water with his dad inspired the idea, with Holt telling Olympics.com: "We built a boat when I was like 12 or maybe even younger than that, and we sailed it around a river."

Citing his own experience as extremely amateur, as ever, Holt quickly turns the attention back to his charging charges: "It was nothing like the events or the scale that [the students] do now."

One of the first students on the programme, Shabazz Patterson, admitted he, "wasn't really keen on (sailing) to start with", in an interview on the BBC in 2017, "but then, by the second day, I really started enjoying it. And then, the third day, I enjoyed it even more and then we pestered Mr Holt enough to bring us on another trip and then me and Montel (Fagan-Jordon) came up with an idea to get a bigger boat."

Initially stumped at not being allowed to take part in any of the few school sailing regattas due to the GCA being a state-funded school, the team decided to do things their own way.

An Ebay purchase of a 22-foot yacht rotting in a field saw the students spending the summer sanding her down and making her seaworthy before learning to sail on her.

They then hatched a plan – to become the first state-funded school to compete in the iconic Fastnet Race.

Nearly 700 nautical miles long, the race starts from Cowes before rounding the Fastnet rock on the southern tip of Ireland. The biennial offshore yacht race takes place over multiple days, in challenging conditions, sailing day and night.

"We both did the Fastnet," said Ulutas, referencing teammate Seun Williams standing with him outside the Sir Max Aitken Museum venue as the pair welcomed guests to the reception. "It was five days. Brutal – I think that's probably the word. It's constant slamming, very uncomfortable, couldn't sleep, just tiring, fatigued, couldn't go to the toilet, there's all sorts.

"I remember at one point we were just sitting in the back thinking, is this safe?" Ulutas pauses, before saying with a grin: "It was good fun, though. We learned quite a lot."

The lessons come thick and fast when challenging yourself in extreme conditions, and not just in regard to sailing.

Opportunity knocks

"During the last 12 months, I've been getting these qualifications," Jaydon Owusu told the assembled supporters, including Tokyo 2020 Olympic champion Stuart Bithell, "and what I've realised, unlike a lot of subjects in school, these qualifications are actually worthwhile," prompting laughter from the room.

Citing learning to maintain and service a diesel engine, put out a fire and also become a powerboat and jet ski instructor, Owusu will start a four-year cadetship at the UK Sailing Academy in September where he's training to become a superyacht captain.

Owusu agrees his younger self would never believe the opportunities that have opened up for him – a kid from a single-parent, highly disadvantaged family, with an ADHD diagnosis, who struggled at school. Taking up sailing aged 11 has changed Owusu's life.

"I would never, ever think I could be where I am. I would never think I'd be going into the (sailing) industry. I don't think I even knew about sailing. Obviously, coming into sailing, I've realised there's so many great opportunities and careers that you can get out of it."

Ulutas, meanwhile, graduated from university in July after studying bio-medical sciences, and now has designs on becoming a dentist – an additional four years of study – with plenty of weekend breaks to go sailing, obviously.

"Every place I've got to in my life I owe to sailing, basically," he told Olympics.com. "The main reason I got into uni, I remember my (university) statement, I was talking all about sailing experiences and I ended up getting an unconditional offer."

There are also those intent on making inroads into competing at the highest level, eyeing enviously those headed to the Sailing World Championships taking place in The Hague, Netherlands, from 11 to 20 August, where 107 Olympic quota spots for Paris 2024 are also on the line.

• 2023 Sailing World Championships: Preview, full schedule, athletes and how to watch live Paris 2024 Qualifying action

Wind of change

"The best thing about sailing is when we get to chase Olympians and world champions," smiles Kai Hockley who sails the Olympic class Laser as he takes a swipe at the reigning Olympic champion sitting just feet away. "As you can see here, this is us chasing down the gold medallist last night," ribbed the sailor shortlisted for the 2022 YJA Sailor of the Year award, pointing to photographic evidence on a big screen.

"Another great thing about sailing," Hockley adds, "is help from other sailors."

Bithell is one of those who has advised the team, laughingly recounting a story from when he met the boys at a sailing event in Miami. Having checked in with the guys ahead of the Etchells Class race – a one-design sailboat in which elite and amateur sailors can compete side by side – making sure they had good sails and advising them on how to be competitive, he wished them luck.

"Any normal person would expect that that would give you a bit of leniency on the racecourse (having helped them out)," smiled Bithell, "but you would be wrong", laughing as he recounted the young crew doggedly pursuing them throughout thinking, "Oh God, go away, go away, you're right on our wind!'"

On a more serious note, Bithell is very aware of who should receive the accolades for the achievements – not only the instigator Holt, voted the YJA Sailor of the Decade – but the boys themselves.

"Obviously there's some great support around the project but, you know, the guys got involved and did it themselves, it's their baby," said the London 2012 silver medallist. "I was just chatting to a couple of the guys there and they're moving out of the school and moving on, but there's a next generation, and they're going to benefit from the foundation that they've helped put in. So it's just really cool to see."

Laurence Mead, regatta director at Cowes Week, another supporter of the project, told assembled media at the end of the 2023 edition: "The word yachting conjures up rich people and an elitist sport. It is, in fact, the term for sailing bigger boats.

"Chris (Frederick, 18, winner of the youth trophy) and Kai (17, the young skipper prize) are visible examples of that old-fashioned image of yachting finally being swept away. They get on race boats - big and small - because they're good sailors and, ultimately, to their crewmates, that's all that matters."

Wind in their sails

Sharing ongoing achievements with the rest of the school creates fertile ground for the next generation of dreamers.

"I remember when we were on (UK TV show) Good Morning and the whole school watched it, which was really nice," said Owusu. "I'm now coaching some of the younger ones trying to get them into it as well and show them what the sport is, and literally how great it is."

On a more personal level, Owusu speaks of the impact on his own family.

"I live with my mom and my little brother and, yeah, she's so proud. My little brother, he's sometimes boasting about 'my older brother doing all these things', and so they're really proud of what I'm doing."

If you can even impress your younger brother, you must be doing something right.