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World Champions Shane McCarthy & Andy Davis Win GP14 Ulsters at Donaghdee

17th May 2018
GP14 Silver fleet runners-up Josh Porter & Andrew Corkill at the Ulster Championships in Donaghdee GP14 Silver fleet runners-up Josh Porter & Andrew Corkill at the Ulster Championships in Donaghdee

The Irish GP14 dinghy fleet returned to Donaghadee in County Down, Northern Ireland for the 2018 Ulster Championships on a sunny Saturday afternoon last weekend.

The OOD Ruan O’Tiarnaigh got the first race off at 12pm in a moderate breeze. Ger Owens with his crew Damien Bracken dominated the first two races with two bullets after the McGuiness brothers, first home in race 2 were deemed OCS.

Race three was won by the current world champions Shane McCarthy & Andy Davis.

After an hour postponement on Sunday morning a nice strong breeze filled in. Keith Louden & Alan Thompson started at the pin on port and crossed the fleet and after a hard battle with Shane & Andy, took the win in race four.

Spinnaker DropGP14s prepare for a spinnaker drop at Donaghdee

Race five got underway with Shane & Andy showing their dominance in the strong breeze and led from the start to take the win.

After a general recall in race six, OOD Ruan O’Tiarnaigh eventually ran out of time and sent us home to the delight of many in the fleet.

Shane & Andy took the overall win with Ger & Damien in second and Keith & Alan in third.

The silver fleet honours went to Peter & Stephen Boyle with Josh Porter & Andrew Corkill taking second and Bill Johnson & James Hockley in third.

The bronze fleet honours went to Jack Buttimer & Adam McDonagh with Donaghadee's James Ogg & Jennifer Bryce taking second and Michael Collender & Brian Walker in third.

Results are attached for download below.

Downloads

Published in GP14
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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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