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Displaying items by tag: Garrettstown Beach

The Irish Coast Guard's Kinsale unit was involved in the dramatic rescue of a man clinging to the sheer side of a cliff on Sunday.
TheJournal.ie reports that the man, a 20-something English tourist, had been caught on the beach below at high tide and tried to climb the cliff face to escape, but got into difficulty half-way up.
The man was spotted by a couple walking the clifftop near Garrettstown Beach, who alerted the Old Head of Kinsale coastguard unit.
A cliff rescue expert abseiled down to attach a lifeline and harness, and the man was lifted to safety. He was treated at the scene for cuts and bruises.
Unit officer in charge Eddie Butler told The Irish Examiner that the man didn’t know how he had held on as long he did.
"When we arrived and saw the situation, I didn’t think we’d save him. I think we got to him just in time," said Butler. "The water was raging beneath him. If he had lost his grip and fell in, he would have been lost."
Elsewhere, six people were rescued from a sinking cruiser in the River Shannon on Sunday afternoon following its collision with a bridge in Killaloe, Co Clare.
According to The Irish Times, two members of the Irish Coast Guard's Killaloe unit arrived quickly on scene two help the six occupants and their dog to safety on the riverside.
The Killaloe unit reports that the cruiser was subsequently run aground in the shallows at Ballyvalley to prevent its sinking.

The Irish Coast Guard's Kinsale unit was involved in the dramatic rescue of a man clinging to the sheer side of a cliff on Sunday.

TheJournal.ie reports that the man, a 20-something English tourist, had been caught on the beach below at high tide and tried to climb the cliff face to escape, but got into difficulty half-way up.

The man was spotted by a couple walking the clifftop near Garrettstown Beach, who alerted the Old Head of Kinsale coastguard unit. 

A cliff rescue expert abseiled down to attach a lifeline and harness, and the man was lifted to safety. He was treated at the scene for cuts and bruises.

Unit officer in charge Eddie Butler told the Irish Examiner that the man didn’t know how he had held on as long he did. 

"When we arrived and saw the situation, I didn’t think we’d save him. I think we got to him just in time," said Butler. "The water was raging beneath him. If he had lost his grip and fell in, he would have been lost." 

Elsewhere, six people were rescued from a sinking cruiser in the River Shannon on Sunday afternoon following its collision with a bridge in Killaloe, Co Clare.

According to The Irish Times, two members of the Irish Coast Guard's Killaloe unit arrived quickly on scene two help the six occupants and their dog to safety on the riverside.

The Killaloe unit reports that the cruiser was subsequently run aground in the shallows at Ballyvalley to prevent its sinking.

Published in Rescue

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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