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Displaying items by tag: Ballinasloe

A week of events to celebrate the 21st anniversary of the Heritage Boat Association is already under way at Ballinasloe Harbour.

All welcome to come view the barges, some of which date back to back to 1847, and explore the past of Ireland’s inland waterways with the HBA and the Inland Waterways Association of Ireland’s (IWAI) River Suck branch along with Waterways Ireland and Galway County Council.

Highlights include a heritage tour of Ballinasloe guide by local historian Sean Tully from 7pm this Wednesday 1 June. The 90-minute walking tour covers the history of the Grand Canal and River Suck, and meets at the Heron Sculpture in the harbour at 7pm sharp.

Then Saturday 4 June brings Cruinniú, a family friendly event from 1pm-5pm showcasing Ireland’s cultural heritage with arts and crafts, butter making, a flea circus and a talk on the famous Galway Hooker sailing boats.

Take a look at the historic Bolinder engine, the power plant that replaced horses on the Grand Canal barge fleet, and enjoy music in the harbour all afternoon with the Ballinasloe Town band and Bobby Kilkenny & Friends.

Later on the day, join Dr Christy Cunniffe in the marquee at 5.30pm for a historic talk on the Ballinasloe Grand Canal branch from Fannings lock to Ballinasloe, and at 6.30pm Conor Nolan will give a talk about the Heritage Boat Association.

For more, download the full event brochure HERE.

Published in Inland Waterways

Waterways Ireland advises masters of vessels on the Shannon Navigation that the Heritage Boat Association will be celebrating its 21st anniversary with a rally in Ballinasloe Harbour from Saturday 28 May to Monday 6 June.

Masters of vessels are advised that up to 30 heritage vessels will be moored in Ballinasloe during the 10-day rally. For more see the Facebook event page HERE.

Published in Inland Waterways

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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