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Displaying items by tag: Alex Thompson

#hugoboss – Alex Thomspon's Hugo Boss Yacht that called into Cork Harbour marina en route to New York from Southampton in late April has broken its mast during the Atlantic Crossing.

Last Friday morning whilst sailing upwind at 25 knots, the team progress to New York has been interrupted when their mast broke. The reason for the broken mast is currently unknown; however, the on-board team, which includes skippers Alex Thomson, Pepe Ribes, Ryan Breymaier and crewmember, Willy Altadill are all safe and have stabilized the mast. Alex has reported that there is no damage to the boat or sails and they will continue to Newport, Rhode Island. T

The broken section has been secured and the boat is able to sail with the remaining mast and they are on route to Newport RI. At the moment our intention is to make a suitable repair to allow Pepe and Ryan to take part in the New York to Barcelona Race race but until the boat is in port and fully assessed we cannot finalise our plans.

The team website says: 'the mast was broken above the top spreader. We are relieved to announce that the four crew members on-board are safe and we have notified their families and our sponsors'.

In April, the Open 60 made a surprise visit to Cork Harbour Marina in Monkstown Bay, giving some 50 local junior sailors a tour of the vessel - and hopefully inspiring their future in offshore racing.

Skipper Alex Thomson said he and his crew were not far off Land's End in Cornwall after a leak discovered in the starboard ballast tank required overnight repairs.

But rather than sail back to Falmouth, Thomson reckoned they could find a suitable deep-water berth on Ireland's south coast.

A few phone calls later from the team's business manager (and Corkonian) Stuart Hosford, and they had a place waiting for them in Monkstown Bay, which can boast of over eight metres of water at low tide - more than enough for a vessel of Hugo Boss' stature.

Published in Offshore

British yachtsman Alex Thompson has produced a stunning new promotional video, this time round Thompson walks up his boat's 30–metre high mast. It takes some control to keep a boat in that position so the stunt could be performed.

Published in Solo Sailing
Tagged under

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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