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GP14 dinghy sailing
Irish GP14 Dinghy Sailing News and Regatta Results
GP14s wait for wind ashore at Lough Erne Yacht Club on day two of the Irish Championships at Lough Erne Yacht Club
The second day of the 2021 GP14 Championship of Ireland got underway more than two hours later than scheduled. Little or no breeze saw the AP up outside Lough Erne Yacht Club all morning and well into the afternoon. Patience…
Race three start of the GP14 Irish Nationals at Lough Erne Yacht Club
The 2021 GP14 Championship of Ireland got underway at a breezy Lough Erne Yacht Club. With wind regularly between 15 and 20+ knots, Race Officer Derek Bothwell had the fleet on the water pretty much as scheduled and completed three championship…
Hugh and Dan Gill's new GP14 YIN Tang is prepared for Race of the National Championships at Lough Erne
There is plenty of wind for the first races of the GP14 National Championships in Lough Erne today but the fleet is currently still aiming for a First Gun at 12:30 under race officer, Derek Bothwell from Howth Yacht Club. Despite…
The GP14 fleet return to Lough Erne Yacht Club for the 2021 Irish Championships on August 13th
The fact that Royal St. George Olympic 470 helmsman Ger Owens has won the Ulsters, Leinsters and Skerries Regatta, which are the three GP14 events sailed so far this season, means he is a clear favourite to take the Championship…
July's Skerries Regatta will feature a start for GP14 dinghies pictured above competing for Leinster honours in Blessington earlier this month
Skerries Sailing Club Regatta next weekend (July 24/25) will feature a separate GP14 dinghy start and five championship-style races in anticipation of next year's World Championships to be staged at the north Dublin venue. The annual Skerries regatta is also…
Ventura, no 796 built in 1955 and once owned by Ernie Mawhinney of Belfast Lough, is back in the water on Strangford Lough at Newtownards
A year and a half ago, Afloat reported on a famous GP14 called Ventura, which had been saved from destruction and was being restored by Derek McCune of Newtownards Sailing Club.  Now Ventura, no 796 built in 1955 and once…
Ger Owens and Mel Morris were crowned GP14 Leinster Champions at Blessington Sailing Club
Different event, same result. Following their success at the Ulsters two weeks ago, Ger Owens and Mel Morris were crowned GP14 Leinster Champions at Blessington Sailing Club last weekend. (Jul 3/4) Originally earmarked as part of the Volvo Dun Laoghaire…
GP14 Ulster Champions for 2021, Ger Owens and Mel Morris
Ger Owens and Mel Morris were crowned Ulster Champions in the first event of the GP14 dinghy calendar at Newtownards Sailing Club at the weekend writes Andy Johnston Day 1 of the Ulster Championships at Newtownards Sailing Club and 3 great…
The Irish GP14 Ulster Championships will go ahead on June 19 at Newtownards Sailing Club
The Irish GP14 fleet has confirmed its Ulster Championships will go ahead in Newtownards Sailing Club on the weekend of June 19/20 as planned. It's buoyant news for one of the country's leading dinghy classes that had to scratch its…
GP14 Females Talk on Zoom this week about sailing roles
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…
A 30-boat GP14 fleet is expected for the Championships at Blessington in July
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…
The RNLI lifeboats tow the abandoned GP14 dinghy back to shore at Youghal
Volunteer lifeboat crew with Youghal RNLI rescued five people from the water off Capel Island near Knockadoon in the Youghal Bay area this afternoon (Monday 5 April) when the two GP14 sailing dinghies they were in capsized leaving one adult…
Cullaun Sailing Club in located in a scenic and historic area of East Clare
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…
16 GP14s Line up for Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta
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…
2017 GP14 Irish Champions Ger Owens and Melanie Morris
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…
GP14 racing on Dublin Bay at Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2019
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…

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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