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Displaying items by tag: LE James Joyce 'twinned'

#OPVtwinning - L.É. James Joyce (P62) the Naval Service’s newest OPV90 / 'Beckett' class was twinned with the City of Waterford last Sunday, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The Port of Waterford was host to the event which saw Waterford City and County Council twin the L.É. James Joyce with the south-eastern maritime city. The €50 million newbuild was commissioned in September 2015 and replaced L.É. Aoife (P22) which too was twinned with the city and also from where she was decommissioned last year.

The morning twinning ceremony of L.É. James Joyce took place at the Frank Cassin Wharf on the City Quays, where the offshore patrol vessels career will be the focus of attention of the council and people.

Following the twinning, Mayor John Cummins hosted a ceremony at City Hall where among the attendees where Minister for Defence Simon Coveney, Chief of Staff Vice Admiral Mark Mellet, Officer Commanding the L.E. James Joyce, Lieutenant Commander Brian Dempsey and crew of 44 personnel along with family members.

The twinning also consolidated an existing fundraising relationship between the Naval Service and staff from the Paediatric Ward at University Hospital Waterford, who also attended the ceremony.

During the weekend, the OPV was open to the public with tours of the newbuild built by Babcock Marine & Technology, Appledore Devon. This is where the final of three OPV90 class sisters, L.É. William Butler Yeats is under construction.

Published in Navy

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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