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Displaying items by tag: Kerry Larkin

Sligo have been crowned champions of 2010 after a hard-fought final at the Rossnowlagh Intercounties over the weekend.

The Sligo team's combination of veterans (David O'Donnell, Kerry Larkin) and juniors (Gearoid McDaid and Aaron O'Hare) was more than a match for Donegal's all-youth squad - which included the competition's youngest ever finalist, 10-year-old Jack Scott.

Indeed, it was the killer combination of McDaid and O'Hare - who have faced each other at every U14 final this year - that left 'the forgotten county' playing catch-up, despite a solid challenge by Donegal captain James Garvey.

O'Hare claimed first place, with McDaud second and O'Donnell in fifth, which was more than enough to clinch the Vinny Britton Cup for their county.

Meanwhile, James Garvey was presented with the Rossnowlagh Surf Club person of the year award for his contributions over the past season.

The Castlederg 16-year-old will also be featured in RTÉ's Mission Beach USA, which follows a group of young Irish surfers training with lifeguards in Florida. The programme will be broadcast on Monday 25 October at 5pm.

Published in Surfing

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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