gp14 – East Down Yacht Club has announced that they will be hosting the GP 14 World Championship in August 2014. This will probably be the largest ever dinghy sailing championship to be held on Strangford Lough. It is anticipated that there will be in the region of 130-150 boats competing in the event, with entrants from Ireland , United Kingdom, Europe and even as far afield as Sri Lanka.

East Down Yacht Club is situated on the Western shores of Strangford Lough about 1 mile north of Killyleagh. The facilities at the Club have recently been substantially up dated with concrete hard standing for all boat parks and surrounding grounds. It also has its own Caravan and Camping facilities on site which together with additional marquee facilities will make the whole event have a very " Championship village atmosphere feel to it ". Many competitors will be living on site or staying in nearby B&B accommodation, but all will enjoy the onsite catering and evening entertainment which will be laid on.

There will be 5 days of very competitive racing taking place with daily prizes and culminating in the awarding of the overall Championship winners on the last day.

Strangford Lough is well known to many sailors and provides a fantastic venue for such an event, not only for its outstanding scenic qualities, but also for the abundance of wild life which can be observed around its shores and on the water. It provides large expanses of open water which are tidal , but not exposed to open sea conditions owing to the relatively narrow entrance to the Lough.

EDYC has previous experience of hosting large events such as this, having hosted the Wayfarer Class International Championships in 2001 ( with a fleet of over 100 boats ) and more recently Fireball & Topper Championships .

Olympic 470 campaigner Gerbil Owens will challenge for the GP14s dinghy national title this weekend in Skerries. It brings fresh competition for Sligo's Sailing team of Tim Corcoran and Brendan Brogan who are undefeated in this event for the past six years. Others taking part include

Curly Morris and Laura McFarland, third at the worlds in Sri Lanka back in Feburary.

Owens will be racing in his brand new GP14, the double Olympian won the most recent GP14 fixture, the Ulster Championships, in Newtownards.

Mike Senior, previously a GP national champion in England should also be in attendance as will Niall Henry and James Conlon of Sligo, finalists in last year's Irish Helmsmans Championships.

The Leinsters were held in Skerries last year and attracted a 40 boat entry the hope is for as much again and maybe more.

With a good local fleet, visitors from England and a strong core of travellers North and South the stage is set for a top championships.

#gp14 – Top placed Irish boat at the recent GP14 World championships Ger Owens and Melanie Morris have won the GP14 Ulsters. Held over the weekend 1st & 2nd September on Larne Lough the 2012 Championship produced a series of races packed with excitement, a tinge of terror and a dead-heat for first place.

Hosted by East Antrim Boat Club the championship was scheduled for six races with Irish Olympian Ger Owens partnered as usual by local girl Melanie Morris defending the title against 42 other competitors.

Day one race one saw the expected forecast materialising. The capsize list grew. In the end it was the McGuiness brothers John & Donal who took the 50-year-old Belfast Telegraph trophy back to Moville in the county of Donegal. By the start of the second race the conditions blowing across Larne Lough were way ahead of the forecast. Wind speeds of some 28 knots were recorded. Race officer Richard Doig kept the show running to allow Shane McCarthy & Damian Bracken a white knuckle victory. With conditions worsening – wind speeds of plus 38 knots – the fleet made its dramatic dash for shore. Many crews displayed the tell-tale black (mud) mainsail top, and pale complexions! Safety Officer Stephen Craig and his team were at full stretch.

Sunday dawned with contrasting conditions. Although shifty the light SWS breeze held to allow a further three races to be sailed. The keen fleet encountered several general recalls and continually bunched up featuring an abundance of place changing.

However it was the Owens-Morris team who mastered the intricacies of this inland Irish Lough. They took three straight bullets! Their late late show resulted in a tie on overall points which was resolved on count-back. Owens & Morris had successfully defended their title to again accept the ancient and battered brass bell which was first presented to the class in 1953.

Running in tandem with the main championship was the 'masters' series. This was won by 68-year-old Curly Morris crewed as usual by Laura McFarland. Keen competition was also recorded within the Silver and Bronze fleets. Son and father Daniel & Hugh Gill from north Dublin's Sutton club took the silver league while Newtownard's Michael Cox & Joshua Porter won the bronze league.

Speaking at the slick prize-giving the GP14 Irish Association's new President Laurence Balham echoed Ger Owen's comments on the professionalism of East Antrim's organisation. He plied particular praise on the race committee's skill in completing the series in the most challenging of conditions.

OVERALL RESULTS for ULSTER CHAMPIONSHIP:

#gp14 – Dun Laoghaire's GP14 pairing of Ger Owens and Melanie Morris from the Royal St. George YC have finished fifth overall at the 127-boat World championships in Cornwall today.

The second half of the championships featured strong winds and huge waves in Looes Bay. 17 Irish boats contested the championships with next best Irish Greystones SC pair Shane McCarthy and Andy Thompson in tenth overall. Full results are here.

#gp14 – Royal St. George's Ger Owens and Melanie Morris have posted a second and a fifth yesterday to stay fifth overall and nine points off the lead at the massive 127-boat GP14 Worlds in Cornwall.

Fresh from the Olympic Games in Weymouth where Owens competed in the 470 class the Dun Laoghaire sailor has a string of consistent scores 5,5,2,5 and discarded a 7th yesterday after four races sailed in Looes Bay. Irish boats are faring well with Ross Kearney eighth and Shane McCarthy 11th. Download a PDF of the GP14 day three results below as a pdf.

#gp14 – Triple Irish Olympic sailor Ger Owens crewed by Melanie Morris lies fifth overall at the GP14 World championships in Cornwall after three races sailed in the 127-boat fleet.

Owens and Morris have moved up two places after Monday's two races scoring tow fifth places to be on the same 17 points as the UK's Simon Potts and Peter Grey of Blithfiled SC.

A south westerly force 3 in Looes Bay combined with big rolling waves for yesterday's racing.

Irish interest in the top ten is high with Former Mirror world Champion Ross Kearney and Ed Bradburn from Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club ninth and Greystones sailor Shane McCarthy and Andy Thompson tenth.

Master builder Alistair Duffin and Paul Whitcombe from Newtownards are 17th in the massive fleet.

More on the worlds site here.

#gp14 – It was only a short hop from Weymouth to Cornwall last week when the Olympic regatta finished for Irish 470 sailor Ger Owens who is currently placed seventh overall at the GP14 World championships underway at Looe Sailing Club in Devon today.

The Dun Laoghaire sailor with new crew Scott Flannigan rounded off his third Olympics in the 470 with with a 16th and a 5th on the final day to leave the pair 23rd overall.

Now the Royal St. George helm, who will miss out on tonight's OIympic homecoming at the National YC, has teamed up with Melanie Morris to lead Irish hopes at the 130-boat GP 14 event in which there is a strong Irish presence.

Moville Boat Club's John and Donal McGuiness are next Irish in ninth. Shane McCarthy and Andy Thompson from Greystones Sailing Club are in 13th place.

Racing continues today. Results here.

#gp14 – The GP14 Irish National Championships took place last Saturday and Sunday at Ballyholme Yacht Club. The event was kindly sponsored by Craftinsure Insurance and North Down Borough Council Tourism. Almost 40 boats from Ireland and England attended the event which was seen as a warm up event for the World Championships in Cornwall in three weeks time. Full results are downloadable as word doc below.

Racing was delayed on Saturday morning due to a lack of wind. The wind eventually filled in to 15 – 18 knots from the south to give three full length races. All three races were won by the English pair, Mike Senior and Chris White. With the forecast of heavy winds on Sunday the Race Officer, Robin Gray, was determined to get three races completed on Saturday to constitute a series.

As it was the winds did increase for racing on Sunday but did not stop racing going ahead. Two races were completed with winds reaching 28 knots at times. Mike Senior and Chris White coped best in the testing conditions and continued their dominance to score two further wins. The competition for second place was very tight with Shane MacCarthy and Andrew Thompson coming in just ahead of Simon Potts and Pete Grey. Shane and Andrew were first Irish boat. Ross Kearney, formerly from North Down but now working and living in England came in fourth with his crew Ed Bradburn.

The Silver Fleet was won by Gerard O'Sullivan and Hugh McNally who finished well inside the gold fleet boats in 11th place overall. First in the Bronze Fleet went to Michael Cox and Nigel Sloan from Newtownards. Michael and Nigel finished 22nd overall.

Mike Senior's dominance puts him in strong contention for the World Championships in August. Almost 20 boats from Ireland will be making the journey across to compete in the week-long event. A fleet of 130 boats are due to take part.

The final results of the event were as follows:-

1st Mike Senior & Chris White

2nd Shane MacCarthy & Andy Thompson

3rd Simon Potts & Pete Grey

4th Ross Kearney & Ed Bradburn

5th Dave Young & Shona Fleming

6th David Fletcher & Laura McFarland

7th Graham Elmes & Melanie Morris

8th Keith Louden & Dessie Hughes

9th Bryan Willis & Ruan O'Tiarnaigh

10th Alistair Duffin & Paul Whitcombe

Silver Fleet

1st Gerard O'Sullivan & Hugh McNally

2nd Daniel Gill & Cillian McGreer

3rd Daniel Gallagher & Gareth Gallagher

Bronze Fleet

1st Michael Cox & Nigel Sloan

2nd James Ogg & Ronan O'Beirne

3rd Peter Smyth & Jackie Malone

#GP14–Ballyholme Yacht Club on Belfast Lough will host the Irish GP14 Championships on July 21st and 22nd.

In 2014, the GP14 World Championships come to Northern Ireland for the first time in many years, so next month's  CraftInsure Irish Championship represents a an ideal way for visitors to complete some early research into local sailing.

The launch for the event was held in Belfast on Sunday 10th June beside the Lagan. The local GP14's held a short event on the river to salute Alastair Duffin for 50 years of building wooden boats (mainly GP14's) in East Belfast. Alistair Duffin's superb dinghies are sailed across the world. In the days of fibre glass boats, a wooden Duffin hull currently holds the World title.

Ballyholme Yacht Club regularly holds Regional, National and International Championships in many dinghy classes with club member Robin Gray an RYA NI Regional Race Management Coordinator.

Ballyholme YC has a long history in GP14s. Bill Whisker and Jimmy McKee from Ballyholme YC won the GP14 World Championships in Australia in the 1970 and Burton Allen won the GP14 British National Championship.

#GP14  – The annual GP14 Riocard O Tiarnaigh Challenge took place at Swords Sailing Club on the 14th & 15th of April. This was the first of SSBC's headline events. The event was run over Saturday and Sunday with a total of 12 races completed on a variety of courses including trapezoid, windward leeward and Olympic style courses.

Race officer Peter Smith and team took to the water at 11.00 am along with the rib fleet and set up a triangle course with a diagonal run back to a port rounding and then reaching to the leeward mark but a short delay ensued due to wind shifting so race 1 finally got under way at 12.00. The 22 boat fleet was divided in to 3 groups, gold, silver and bronze. On race 3 the course changed to triangle sausage and the wind began to blow giving rise to some spectacular looking reaches under full sail from the fleet. A half time lunch saw the boat crews in to the club for a feed and then out again.

The bitter cold northerly breeze did not hinder the hardy GP14 sailors as they completed a total of 6 races on day one leaving Peter Fallow & James Hockey leading the bronze fleet on 5 points, Gerard OSullivan & Hugh McNally and Daniel & Gareth Gallagher tied on 7 points each in the silver fleet and Niall Henry & Ossian Geraghty leading the gold fleet on 8 points.

So boats put away and in to the club house for a barbecue and Alan Grays famous cheese melter burgers followed by drinks and a viewing of the days action on the video screen.

Day two with lighter airs and still quite a cold day on this 100th year rememberance of the Titanics sinking saw first gun sounded at 10.30. The last three races in the group rounds produced fleet winners and the 12 boats to compete in a 3 race final for overall winner.

After a break ashore the boats returned to the water and a windward leeward course with a short loop inside was set.

Race 1 saw Shane McCarthy and D Bracken take the line.

Race 2 Clive Goodwin and Stan Shepherd crossed in pole position.

In race 3 Niall Henry and Oiseen Geraghty finished first and coming second Clive (Swords)and Stan (Skerries) which together with a 3rd from race one clinched them the gold and Riocard O'Tiarnaigh trophy for 2012.

Bronze winners were Peter Fallon & James Hockey, Lough Foyle.

Silver winners were Gerard OSullivan & Hugh McNally, HYC.

At the prize giving GP 14 Association chairman Richard Street formally requested Swords Sailing Club to host the event again in 2013 and commodore Donal Brennan accepted.