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Displaying items by tag: Celtic Crossing Challenge

#KAYAKING - Firefighters from Northern Ireland are currently undertaking the challenge of a lifetime to raise funds for a local children's charity, as UTV Live News reports.

Starting yesterday, the eight-strong team from Belfast and Lisburn embarked on the Celtic Crossing Challenge, which involves climbing Ben Nevis in Scotland followed by a 100-mile cycle to the Mull of Kintyre, kayaking across the North Channel to Northern Ireland, another cycle from Cushendun to Newcastle via Belfast, and a final ascent up Slieve Donard.

The firefighters of the Specialist Rescue Team have put in months of training in preparation for the event, which will conclude on Tuesday, which involved many hours kayaking at sea and on local rivers and loughs.

Max Joyce of the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) told UTV: "We'll be hitting Cushendun - hopefully Cushendun and not Iceland - at about 1pm on Monday and we would love people to come along and cycle with us into Belfast."

The challenge hopes to raise £20,000 for CLIC Sargent, a charity supporting young children with cancer. It has special significance for Joyce, who was diagnosed with cancer himself in 1997.

"It's worth every minute if we can in some small way help children who are suffering from this hideous disease," he said.

UTV Live News has much more on the story HERE.

Published in Kayaking

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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