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Displaying items by tag: Indian Summer

Although we've been writing about how to look after your boat this winter in Afloat's latest issue don't hang up the lifejackets just yet! A late rush of Summer is expected across the country this weekend. Unseasonable high temperatures of up to 22 degrees have been forecast. Get the boat out, it can't last long! The best of the weather can be expected in the mid west. Met Eireann say the Indian Summer could benefit Clare and Galway the best.

MET EIREANN FORECAST : Outlook is for warm dry settled weather in most places. FRIDAY NIGHT: Very mild, humid and misty on Friday night. Dry in many areas apart from some drizzle but there will be rain in parts of Kerry. SATURDAY & SUNDAY: Warm, humid conditions are expected over the weekend and dry in most places. However it looks as if southwestern counties will have a lot of cloud with rain at times on Saturday but this dying away on Sunday. For the rest of the country the weekend looks like being dry and warm with sunshine at times, probably best during Sunday and afternoon temperatures in the high teens or around 20 degrees in parts of the west, very high for early October. Feeling cooler at times near the east coast due to a brisk easterly breeze MONDAY: Dry and bright on Monday with sunshine in many areas and afternoon temperatures a little lower in the mid to high teens but winds lighter than over the weekend, just a moderate easterly breeze.

Published in Weather

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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