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Sutton Dinghy Club Sailors Take a Haul of Trophies at GP14 UK Nationals

10th August 2019
The GP14 Sutton Dinghy Club sailors celebrate in Abersoch last night The GP14 Sutton Dinghy Club sailors celebrate in Abersoch last night

Sutton Dinghy Club took a haul of awards at last night's GP14 UK National Championships prizegiving in Abersoch including winners of the Club Trophy and with Peter and Stephen Boyle taking quite a few - seventh overall, Top Youth Helm, the Top Family trophy and first in Silver Fleet. Also, David Johnston and Collie Delaney were winners of the Bronze Fleet.

Andy Tompson GP14East Antrim Boat Club's Andy Thompson (left) and Sam Watson won the GP14 National Championship Trophy

Sam Watson and East Antrim Boat Club's Andy Thompson won the GP14 National Championship Trophy. The winners also confirmed they will be across in a fortnight for the Championship of Ireland to be held in Skerries, the venue for 2020 World Championships. Ross Kearney who finished fourth will be back over to defend his crown won last year in Sligo.

Entry is now open for the 2020 Worlds with 25 confirmed entries already received.

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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