The International GP14 Association are taking part in World Sailing's Female Festival – "Steering the Course"; following the excellent Zoom talk from three top female sailors from the 2018 World's at this year's RYA Dinghy Show; the Association has asked a few more sailors to join them in chatting about GP14 sailing.

The sailors will be sharing tips on boat set-up and techniques for lighter weight sailors. They will be sharing their journey into sailing and Ross Kearney will share what he does differently when he has a female crew.

A third talk is about the supporting roles in sailing and International race team member Sally Burnett and International Measurer Olive Parker amongst others will be talking about what this entails.

Jane Kearney (gold fleet crew) at the 2018 World Championships

The GP14 is a friendly class where families can sail together or in opposition. We have had child helms with their parents crewing, husbands and wives or siblings sharing a boat on the competing together, at all levels of sailing from club to World Championships as well as in opposition to each other. In 2022 our Worlds at Skerries in Ireland hope to host a Ladies World Championship, along with the open, Mixed and Youth if there are enough entries to meet the criteria set by World Sailing.

GP14 Females Talk on Zoom

Monday 24th May 8pm

Topic: Female helms –Katie Dwyer First female Helm at 2018 Worlds. Sarah Norbury First female Helm and female boat, 2019 Nationals and Ross Kearney 4th place at 2019 Nationals (with a male crew)

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Meeting ID: 860 7664 5302
Passcode: 256293

Tuesday 25th May 8pm

Topic: Female crews – Mel Morris 9th place and first female crew 2018 Worlds, Liz Senior 2nd place crew at 2019 Nationals and more importantly just in front of her World Champion husband Mike, Michelle Rowley- Crew for Katie Dwyer and first female boat at the 2018 Worlds and Jane Kearney (gold fleet crew)
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Meeting ID: 856 6550 8262

Thursday 27th May 8pm

Topic: Other Roles Which Supporting Sailing – Sally Burnett International race official, Olive Parker International Measurer, and Kerri-ann Boylan coach chat about how they came to be involved
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Meeting ID: 862 3727 3250
Passcode: 975564

Following the disappointment arising from the cancellation of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta, the GP14 Leinster Championships will now sail at Blessington Sailing Club on the same dates (July 3/4).

A 30-boat fleet is expected for the Championships as the class returns to the County Wicklow venue that hosted 2020's only Geep event, according to Michael Collender, President of the GP14 Ireland Class Association.

Ulster GP14 Championships

Before that, the GP14 Ulster Championships are scheduled to go ahead as planned in Newtownards on the weekend of June 19/20 for the first event of the season as the Munsters in Cullaun in May were postponed.

The GP14 class has announced the postponement of its 2021 Munster Championship at Cullaun Sailing Club on May 15/16.

With only a limited lifting of restrictions expected for the end of April, the GP14 class believes it is highly unlikely it would have been able to proceed with its initial dates.

The class was looking forward to starting its season in the scenic and historic area of East Clare but following discussions between the class and Cullaun Sailing Club, the decision has been taken to postpone the Munster Championship till November 6th / 7th.

The class are now keeping its fingers crossed that Cullaun is the only fixture on the 2021 calendar that will be subject to a COVID change as the Geeps turn their attention north to Newtownards in June for the Ulster Championships.

16 GP14s represents the biggest fleet so far for July's new look Volvo Dun Laoghaire One Design Regatta. 

With four months to the event itself, (and five days to the close of the VDLR Early Bird entry) the Dun Laoghaire Harbour event will be the second on the Geeps 2021 calendar that also doubles as the class Leinster Championships.

As regular Afloat readers will recall, UK visitors Sam Watson and Andy Thompson were victors in 2019 ahead of Donegal's John and Donal McGuinness after eight races sailed in a 31–boat fleet.

So far, there is no sign of Watson on the entry list but the Moville brothers are signed up along with fellow north coast competitor, James Hockley from Lough Foyle Yacht Club.

See the entry list here

Three Irish GP14 sailors will feature at this weekend's virtual Dinghy Show run by the RYA in a section of the show called 'Women Win Too' are getting together by Zoom to discuss Women in Sailing and winning on the racecourse with a lighter crew.

Katie Dwyer, Michelle Rowley & Melanie Morris will be on a session mid-day Sunday (12pm)

The GP14 class has arranged a number of talks and chats over Zoom across the two days of the show.

It's not the only Irish female interest at the show either. Dun Laoghaire's Saskia Tidey, who will sail for Britain in Tokyo this July in the 49erfx skiff class, will also take a leading role at the RYA event, as Afloat reported previously here.

Register for the show here

Paul Rowan was a renowned member of the GP14 class, a staunch supporter of East Antrim Boat Club at Larne and a talented helmsman sadly passed away on Saturday (23rd Jan).

Paul was a highly successful sailor despite carrying a weakness in his shoulder muscles on one side, a legacy of childhood polio. Paul had a number of coping mechanisms to overcome this - such as using his whole body to heave in the mainsheet.
Paul's prowess in the GP14 world came to prominence in 1965 when he and crew Graham Gingles won the Northern Ireland Championship. He was runner-up in the British Nationals in 1968 and 1973.

In '68 a broken kicker on the last beat while lying a close second may have cost him the Championship which was won by John McWilliam, also from East Antrim. In 1971, they were Irish and N I champions.

In '84 and '85, sailing with Mark Nolan of Dun Laoghaire Harbour, Paul reached the pinnacle of sailing competition in Ireland winning the then Helmsman's Championship of Ireland. The duo also finished fifth at the '85 World Championships in Mumbles, Wales.

His business career took him to the position of Managing Partner in Price Waterhouse Coopers, the merged company of Price Waterhouse and Coopers Lybrand in Belfast.

Paul Rowan pictured fifth from left at the 1979 GP14 Worlds in Perth, Australia. Courtesy: GP14 Ireland Facebook

Fellow GP14 helmsman and 1975 World Champion Bill Whisker from Bangor holds Paul in high regard. " Without Paul, the International GP14 Association wouldn't be a strong as it is today. He was President between 1979 and 1982 and a Trustee also". Bill continues "As Treasurer he set up the financial system for the GP14 Association still in use today and introduced boat insurance for the owners. The financial system was the making of the class". He introduced the then very novel direct debiting system for membership which has helped to maintain Class members and income.

Paul was indeed a great organiser. In 1992 he was host to the late great Sir Peter Blake when Ballyholme Yacht Club was lucky enough to have him speak on his sailing career to a large gathering at a Price Waterhouse sponsored seminar in the Club after a mini – regatta in which Peter Blake sailed on Jimmy Mackey's MGRS 34, Twenty Twenty – enormously different to winning the 1989 – 1990 Whitbread Round the World Race.

After giving up GP14 sailing Paul and clubmate Des Nixon sailed and raced a small cruiser – with Paul as crew, offering of course advice, which I hear Des never paid any attention to! He never lost his indomitable spirit as displayed on a foray in Fiona Hicks' RS Elite at Bangor. Word is that after racing he and crew Lee Stevenson and Bill Whisker stormed into the harbour entrance under spinnaker!

Fellow EABC member, long-standing GP14 sailor and current President of GP14 International Curly Morris has great memories: "Paul and I had an intense rivalry on the water, which through Club racing at least twice a week propelled us to the top of the Irish Fleet. (It was kept under control after '67 when I started sailing the Finn dinghy, aiming to go to the Olympics.) We nevertheless maintained respect for each other's abilities on and off the water and if united in a common cause worked together well and closely. One example is the first dinghy racing committee of the newly formed Irish Sailing Association when we served together with Adrian Bell, Maurice Butler and Johnny Hooper". Curly adds "In the mid' 70s my wife, Ann started sailing with me. Having Paul just in front of us was the greatest incentive for her (and me) to sit out harder as he was one of those people who we just didn't want to be beaten by - especially if it was windy! (If you need to know Pat Murphy was the other)."

Sincere condolences to Paul's widow Rosie, and daughters Julie and Nikki.

BA

This Wednesday's GP14 AGM will hear an update on the rearranged World Championships for Skerries, North Dublin in 2022. 

After a 2020 season that was severely affected by COVID-19, (that included the cancellation of the 100-boat Skerries Worlds) the dinghy class now has a full set of events scheduled for 2021.

AGM organisers say they aim to keep meeting formalities to a minimum over Zoom and then spend some time hearing thoughts and ideas for the double-handed class going forward.

The GP14 has been one of the first to give a thumbs up to Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta plans for July and class officers are now seeking to boost fleet entries in order to win a hospitality voucher for the class at the Dublin Bay event. So far three boats are entered; East Antrim Boat Club's, Curly Morris, David Johnston's Lil Yachty from Sutton Dinghy Club and Greystones Sailing Club's Norman Lee.

First up on the 2021 GP14 Irish calendar is a trip to Cullan Sailing Club in Clare for the Munster Championships, a full list of the fixtures is here.

Think of the GP14 class in Ireland and among those uppermost in your mind, (depending on your age!) would be the late Ernie Mawhinney's Ventura, one of the earliest in the class at number 796.

Ventura means 'fortune, chance or luck' but nothing about Ernie's Ventura was ever down to chance or luck. Having built the boat himself in 1955 and sailed it skillfully and competitively until a few months before he died at age 83 in 2008, he would be delighted that it is now in the safe and competent hands of Derek McCune of Islandmagee and County Antrim Yacht Club at Whitehead on Belfast Lough. That year at the Ulster Championships, Sligo Yacht Club presented a new trophy to the Association for the sixth race in memory of Ernie Mawhinney and it was fitting that the wind dropped and the sun shone, Ernie's favourite conditions in which he was hard to beat. The McGuinness brothers lead the race from start to finish winning the inaugural Ventura Cup and the final race of the Ulster Championships.

The late David and Ernie Mawhinney pictured sailing in GP14 Ventura (796) in 1995. The photo shows the pair preparing for the 1995 Championship of Ireland (Newtownabbey Boat Club) and was taken by Bob Torrens and featured in the 1995 Reflections magazine produced to mark the 40th anniversary of the Class

Derek is semi-retired and is pleased to have the time to do this restoration. Ventura, in its memorable various shades of green is now, hot on the heels of Nigel McNeely's Two Buoys, the second GP that I've heard of in the last month to be in the process of restoration.

Ventura's home was always on Belfast Lough; first the now defunct North Belfast Yacht Club at Whiteabbey and subsequently at Newtownabbey Boat Club which lost its clubhouse and grounds around 2002. Ernie then took Ventura to Holywood Yacht Club on the south side of the Lough, from where he sailed it until 2008. It was there, quite by chance, Derek McCune noticed it on passing the club grounds in August last year (2020). A conversation with two men at the gate revealed it was about to be cut up and dumped. A very quick decision on the spot and it was his!

The mammoth task ahead as Ventura had been lying up for years at Holywood. Scroll down for more photos of Ventura's restoration below

Ventura stands apart. Ernie built it himself – he had the plans but at that time in the mid-Fifties, no materials. That didn't deter him. He worked in Mackie's Foundry, a textile machinery engineering plant in Belfast making sisal and hard-fibre spinning machinery, some of which was for the Indian market. The spare shipping pallets were the source of the wood for Ventura and to find a piece of mahogany was like gold dust.

His son, the late David Mawhinney, crewed for him, both safely kitted out with cork lifejackets bought from surplus RAF stock. Ernie was a brilliant helmsman, sailing a homemade GP14 with good gear and sails very competitively and in which he won many events.

Derek McCune who originally sailed and raced a Mirror, has taken on a mammoth task as Ventura had been lying for years at Holywood. It needed a new floor, side decks, and transom for a start and then there were multiple layers of paint, very few fittings but good spars. There were no sails, cover, rudder or kicker. He has saved as much of the original craft as possible. A shout out on Facebook for parts had good results, some of which Derek travelled to the South of England to collect, such was his dedication to the task. He has sails which he will use for club racing but for bigger events, such as the Worlds in Skerries in July 2022, he will indulge in new ones.

Before Derek took over Ventura, the last time it was afloat was when Ernie's sons, David and Kevin, scattered their father's ashes at Holywood and Newtownabbey, surely an appropriate and respectful action. Sadly his son and crew David died in 2019

Derek has worked on Ventura and also built a trailer in his garage, and currently has expert help from Alastair Duffin in his East Belfast workshop. "For the tricky bits" Derek said. He has high hopes of getting afloat soon. He regards himself a custodian of a valuable asset. "Ventura is a usable classic sailing dinghy and part of our maritime heritage. She's 65 years old and I hope someone will be still be sailing her at least 50 years from now".

Sailing wasn't Ernie's only passion. GP14 class President Curly Morris, another GP stalwart revealed, " You know he played double bass in a dance band in the Kings Arms in Larne when we were starting to sail GPs and would give us a nod as we danced by. Later he played with a very good Trad jazz band". A man of many talents indeed.

GP14 'Ventura' Restoration slideshow

Nigel McNeely was a motorboat man who had also enjoyed sailing a Leisure 17. But with two young boys reaching the age at which they could learn to sail, Nigel bought a second-hand GP14 called Alchemellia (no 12819) originally owned by the late Brian Edgerton. Nigels's intention is to sail it at Donaghadee Sailing Club on the North Down coast and at weekends taking it to Kesh on Lough Erne where the family has a caravan. The name has been changed to Two Buoys.

The 32-year-old GP built by the renowned Alistair Duffin, was bought by Nigel in 2019. He and his friend Tom Bell (who he calls the Skipper) have been restoring it to its former glory and look forward to getting on the water this coming season at Kesh where Tom also has a caravan.

Nigel is excited about Two Buoys " I'm looking forward to finishing the restoration and getting out on the water".

The 32-year-old GP built by the renowned dinghy craftsman Alistair Duffin

And Lough Erne Heritage enthusiast Fred Ternan commented " `Great news indeed. Another wooden GP14 saved and restored which will now become a Classic Boat and add to the growing fleet of new build and restored wooden boats in Ireland and in Fermanagh. This is something that Lough Erne Heritage set out to encourage and support and great to hear that it will be sailed on Lough Erne especially in the north-west corner of Lower Lough Erne in Kesh Bay which was once one of the major areas of wooden boat building on Lough Erne".

The GP14 Ireland Committee has drafted a provisional calendar for 2021 (outlined below) and is also working on ideas and options for the 2022 event calendar. 

The exact dates for the Irish hosted 2022 World Championships (rescheduled from 2020 and 2021 due to COVID) will be confirmed in due course by hosts Skerries Sailing Club.

The Irish dinghy class has been one of the first to give a thumbs up to Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta plans for next July to divide Ireland's biggest sailing event over separate weekends.

GP14 2021 Calendar (Provisional)

• Munsters (May 15-16) Cullaun
• Ulsters (Jun 19-20) Newtownards
• Leinsters (Jul 2-4) Dun Laoghaire Regatta
• Nationals (Aug 13-15) Lough Erne YC
• O’Tiarnaigh (Sep 4-5) Mullingar
• AOYC (Sep 25-26) Sutton Dinghy Club
• Hot Toddy (Oct 23-24) East Antrim BC