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Displaying items by tag: Tall Ships Parade of Sail

#PARADE OF SAIL – In preparation for this Sunday's Tall Ships climax of the 'Parade of Sail', a rehearsal 21 Gun Salute will take place today at 14.00hrs at the East Pier Battery, in Dun Loaghaire Harbour, writes Jehan Ashmore.

After the four-day festival ends on Sunday, the tallships are to depart from Dublin Port at 11am, led by the Naval Service LE Emer (P21) with the three hour long 'Parade of Sail' into Dublin Bay. The 40-plus fleet will set a course along a corridor bound for Dun Laoghaire Harbour before turning around and steering for the Baily Lighthouse on Howth.

To mark the sailing spectacle, the battery in Dun Laoghaire Harbour will perform the 21 Gun Salute at approximately 11.45hrs. The criss-crossing of the Parade of Sail route will provide great shore-based spectator vantage points along both east and west piers of the harbour and on Howth Peninsula.

Gun salutes are, by nature, a noise hazard and the public are advised to keep 'well clear of the area' during the time of rehearsal and the gun salute. Blank ammunition will be fired for both the rehearsal and the gun salute.

The battery is equipped with 12-pounder naval guns and they have traditionally been, and remain, the responsibility of the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment, McKee Barracks, in Dublin.

Published in Tall Ships

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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