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GP14 dinghy sailing
Irish GP14 Dinghy Sailing News and Regatta Results
GP14 Association of Ireland President Stephen Boyle presenting Josh Porter, Newtownards Sailing Club Fleet Captain with the first Richard Estaugh Bursary. Also included are Curly Morris, GP14 International vice President and Stuart Wilson, Newtownards Sailing Club Commodore.
Josh Porter, Newtownards Sailing Club GP14 Fleet Captain, is the first recipient of a Richard Estaugh Bursary. The 'Richard Estaugh Fund' was established from the sale of GP14 14000 which was donated by the late Richard Estaugh. Richard was not…
The GP14 Youghal Team were Travellers Trophy Winners at Blessington Sailing Club
A number of GP14 sailors made their way down to Blessington on Friday evening, pitched tents and camper vans around the lakeside.  It was a very wet and windy night for them.  Many of the Saturday sailors drove through heavy…
Solo sailor – GP14 world champion Shane MacCarthy out and about in Dun Laoghaire in his Solo dinghy. The design features inward sloping decks, making it more comfortable to sit–out
GP14 world champion Shane MacCarthy is known for his exploits across a number of sailing classes, most recently the Fireball dinghy, (winner of the Munsters in Killaloe) but perhaps less known is his Solo dinghy form. It turns out the…
2016 Youth Champion Peter Boyle with crew Stephen Boyle
A challenging GP14 youth championship was held at Sligo YC on 24th and 25th September. The conditions proved difficult for both the sailors and race committee alike. An excellent turnout of 20 boats included sailors who had travelled from as…
Tim Corcoran's surprise farewell party at Sligo Yacht Club
GP14 Sailors rolled up to a blustery Rosses Point in Sligo for the GP14 Autumn Open with the possibility of getting little sailing done as strong winds were forecasted for the weekend reports Colman Grimes. With the youth championship been…
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Simon Cully and Libby Tierney upwind
The 2016 GP14 Leinster Championships were hosted by Sutton Dinghy Club and there was a super representation from Clubs up and down the country writes Andy Johnston. The strength of the Class comes from the GP14 presence in the likes…
East Down winners –  (left) GP14 winning crew Damian Bracken presented with a new trophy by Laura Thompson and silver fleet einners Steve Nelson and Brenda Preston
The members of East Down Yacht Club in Strangford Lough welcomed the GP14 fleet back for the 2016 Ulster Championships on the 25th and 26th June with their enthusiastic and warm hospitality. This was the fleet’s first return to EDYC…
GP14s bunched at the leeward mark at Swords Sailing & Boating Club
The GP14 Riocard O'Tiarnaigh Challenge was again this year held at Swords Sailing and Boating Club on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd of May. It was sailed as a combined event with the Purcell Trophy this year due to the…
GP14s competing at Swords Sailing Club
The Irish GP 14 fleet returned to domestic competition at the weekend after a very enjoyable World Championship in Barbados over Easter, made all the more enjoyable when we had an Irish winner in Shane McCarthy & Andy Davis. Results…
Irish GP14s returning from the Barbados World Championships arrived back in Belfast in early May. Three Irish containers were unpacked and It is reported all the boats are very much in one piece. Shane McCarthy's winning championship boat was one of the first out
The GP14 Ireland fleet kicks off its 2016 season with combined Purcell Trophy 2016 & O’Tiarnaigh Challenge from 21-22 May at Swords Sailing & Boating Club. The first event will of course be sailed with the new Irish world champion…
Stephen Boyle (left) congratulates GP14 world champion Shane MacCarthy in Dublin this afternoon
Ireland's GP14 World Champion helmsman Shane MacCarthy, who now holds a unique triple crown of Irish, UK and World titles was welcomed home this afternoon by Irish class president Stephen Boyle. The full story of the Greystones Sailing Club sailors…
Shane MacCarthy and Andy Davis from Greystones Sailing Club are the new GP14 World Champions
Greystones Sailing Club is saluting its first ever world champions tonight as Shane MacCarthy and Andy Davis lift the GP14 Worlds Trophy on the far side of the Atlantic Ocean at the conclusion of the Barbados hosted week long dinghy…
GP 14 Worlds comes to a conclusion in Barbados today
Wicklow sailors Shane McCarthy and Andrew Davis lead the GP14 Worlds in Barbados with two races to go but still any one of three can win the world title later today. Lighter winds prevailed for Race seven and eight but…
McCarthy, the reigning UK and Irish Champion, has sailed a very consistent series scoring  3,3,(9),3,2,4 so far
Ireland's Shane McCarthy and Andy Davis are placed third two points adrift of leaders Nick Craig and Toby Lewis of Great Britain after six races of a scheduled eleven in the 105 boat GP14 World Championships in Barbados. In a…
Big Breeze for the GP14 fleet in Barbados
Bloomin' windy in the West Indies – gusting up to 30–knots during the race writes Irish crew Laura McFarland about race four of the GP14 World Championships in Barbados yesterday.  Only one race was sailed due to the very strong winds…

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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