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Displaying items by tag: Ben Ainslie Racing

#AmericasCup - Sir Ben Ainslie's America's Cup team is already a serious prospect where it counts on the water. But now they're stepping up on the business side of things after signing former McLaren F1 team principal Martin Whitmarsh to lead the charge.

As YBW.com reports, Whitmarsh will join Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) as chief executive next month – marking the second significant connection between high-performance yachting and Formula 1 after BAR's partnership with Red Bull Racing's chief designer Adrian Newey.

“I’m delighted that Martin is joining us," said Sir Ben in a statement on the announcement earlier this month. "When we first started to put together the plan for BAR, McLaren were one of the aspirations.

“So it’s particularly appropriate to have one of the original architects of that model as our new CEO."

Whitmarsh joins BAR after 25 years with McLaren, during which he worked up the ranks to CEO of the McLaren Group but is best remembered for his stint as the company's F1 team boss from 2009 to 2013, when he was ousted after an uncompetitive season.

He will take the reins of a hopeful upstart team that's already taken to the waters of Bermuda where the next America's Cup racing will get underway two years from now.

But according to My Sailing, their training will also be conducted on dry land thanks to the latest 3D simulation technology borrowed, appropriately, from the F1 world.

The virtual reality simulator was developed by Dr James Roche, himself a former McLaren employee, who used similar tech to help Lizzy Yarnold to Olympic gold for Britain at Sochi earlier this year.

My Sailing has more on the story HERE.

Published in America's Cup

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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