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Displaying items by tag: Aquabusiness

Graduates from Wexford Campus' Aquabusiness course have celebrated the completion of their studies.

As the Wexford People highlighted, this is the only course of its kind in the country, as the Higher Diploma in Business in Aquabusiness is now in its fourth year and continues to be popular among young candidates.

'The 2019/2020 cohort graduated with a virtual ceremony,' said lecturer Amy Allen. 'Covid-19 impacted their second semester quite significantly in that a number were scheduled to start industrial placement and of course lockdown restrictions did not permit this.

'However, the course is flexible and, as a teaching team, we feel we are very flexible and responsive to the sector's situation, so we managed to transfer some of these students onto an interdisciplinary project (desk-based).

'Those who really want to complete the placement are being put on hold until restrictions ease and they can rejoin their sponsor companies.'

Among those graduating were three students from Wexford, and others from as far afield as Cork, Galway and Donegal.

'These guys are from the farmed fishing sector, some are also from Bord Iascaigh Mhara (BIM) and work as marine biologists,' Ms Allen said.

More here from the newspaper.

Afloat adds according to BIM's website, the course is designed to cater for those looking to enter management, financial, research & development or regulatory roles in fisheries, aquaculture, seafood processing and related fields

Published in Fishing

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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