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Displaying items by tag: Cruiseship Quest

#CRUISE CALLS – Waterford is to welcome its first cruise caller in 2012 with the Quest (1992/1,180grt) an ice-strengthened expedition cruiseship which is to dock next month along the city-quays, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Normally she operates around the Scottish Isles, Norway, Greenland and Spitsbergen. This year she will make her itineraries for the first time around Ireland, England and Wales.

The stout looking Danish built vessel is just 50m in length, has a beam of 11m and draws 3.5m, this allows her to reach more destinations in difficult conditions. She carries around 50 passengers and a crew half that number. For images including interiors and deck plans click HERE

Quest is also scheduled to make a second call to the south-east city in May. Following both these calls another 17 cruise callers are lined up for the season which runs until September.

Among the callers are the 940 passenger capacity Crystal Symphony, the 66,000 tonnes Marina which only entered service last year, Ocean Princess (for a dry-dock slideshow click HERE) and the 1988 built Prinsendam.

Depending on the vessel's draught, the location of where they will call in Waterford estuary will vary. Aside the city quays, the other berth is in Belview and for deep drafted vessels, they take anchorage off Dunmore East. To view the full cruise call list click HERE.

Published in Cruise Liners

The GP14 is a popular sailing dinghy, with well over 14,000 boats built.

The class is active in the UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and parts of north-eastern USA, and the GP14 can be used for both racing and cruising. 

Designed by Jack Holt in 1949, with the assistance of the Dovey Yacht Club in Aberdyfi. The idea behind the design was to build a General Purpose (GP) 14-foot dinghy which could be sailed or rowed, capable of also being powered effectively by a small outboard motor, able to be towed behind a small family car and able to be launched and recovered reasonably easily, and stable enough to be able to lie to moorings or anchor when required. Racing soon followed, initially with some degree of opposition from Yachting World, who had commissioned the design, and the boat soon turned out to be an outstanding racing design also.

The boat was initially designed with a main and small jib as a comfortable family dinghy. In a design philosophy that is both practical and highly redolent of social attitudes of the day the intention was that she should accommodate a family comprising parents plus two children, and specifically that the jib should be modest enough for "Mum" or older children to handle, while she should perform well enough to give "Dad" some excitement when not taking the family out. While this rig is still available, and can be useful when using the boat to teach sailing, or for family sailing, and has some popularity for cruising, the boat is more commonly seen with the full modern rig of a mainsail, genoa and spinnaker. Australian boats also routinely use trapezes.

GP14 Ireland Event Dates 2023

  • O'Tiarnaigh (Apr 22-23) Blessington Sailing Club
  • Ulsters (May 20-21) East Antrim Boat Club
  • Munsters (Jun 17-18) Tralee Bay Sailing Club
  • Leinsters (Jul 7-9) Dun Laoghaire Regatta
  • SOYC (Aug 19-20) Rush Sailing Club
  • Nationals (Sep 1-3) Sutton Dinghy Club
  • Hot Toddy (Sep 30-Oct 1) Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club

 

At A Glance – GP14 Dinghy Specifications

Crew 2
Draft 1,200 mm (47 in)
Hull weight 132.9 kg
LOA 4.27 m (14 ft)
Beam 1.54 m
Spinnaker area 8.4 m2
Upwind sail area 12.85 m2

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