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Displaying items by tag: Breakin

John Rowley who is the owner of the TSS Duke of Lancaster ship in north Wales, has slammed urban explorers who broke into the veteran vessel by "scaling the anchor chain" earlier this week. 

Rowley, who owns the dry docked vessel in Mostyn, says it was "raided" on Sunday night and Monday night.

The ship has not been used since the 1980's and has become something of a local curio in subsequent decades for people who have caught a glimpse of it while driving past on the coast road in Flintshire.

In 2014, it was painted black in a move that proved contentious with residents after a Latvian graffiti artist had been commissioned to spray paint the ship only two years prior.

But in the last week it has attracted some unwanted attention by urban explorers who broke into the ship in order to get a closer look and to explore the hull. According to Mr Rowley, the urban explorers "climbed over razor wired security fencing, scaled an anchor chain to get on an upper deck of the ship and then broke inside from there after helping others get onboard."

More from NorthWalesLive on the former 1,800 passenger 'steamer' which Afloat adds was built by Harland & Wolff in 1955 for British Rail/Sealink to serve a career throughout the Irish Sea.

The ferry which in the 1970's was converted to convey cars included service on the Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire route and last year a festival was planned at the dry-docked ship.

Published in Historic Boats

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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