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Displaying items by tag: Navy Visits

#Destroyer - A UK naval destroyer was forced to cancel a visit to Belfast today, due to Russian warships understood to be bound for Syria to reinforce attacks on Aleppo, writes Jehan Ashmore.

Senior Royal Navy Officer for Northern Ireland, Commander John Gray, speaking at the 'Our Maritime Heritage' Conference held in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter yesterday, told delegates including Afloat.ie that HMS Duncan had joined a NATO flotilla in the North Sea to ‘shadow’ the Russian Navy.

HMS Duncan is the newest 'Daring' class Type 45 destroyer, which is officially affiliated with Belfast City, where Commander Gray made his comments during a talk about the restoration project of WW1 light cruiser HMS Caroline that was in the North Sea at the Battle of Jutland. The joint conference was organised by Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).

According to the Belfast Telegraph, HMS Duncan sailed from Portsmouth on Tuesday to monitor the Kuznetsov task group in which was heading south through the North Sea and English Channel.

Theresa May has condemned Vladimir Putin's aggression in Syria as Royal Navy vessels monitored Russian warships thought to be heading to reinforce the attack on the besieged city Aleppo. The Prime Minister accused Moscow of being behind "sickening atrocities" in support of Bashar Assad's regime.

The Russian taskforce, including the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, was being man-marked by the Royal Navy as it headed towards the eastern Mediterranean. For more the newspaper has a report here. 

The fourth in a series of six Daring class destoyers built, HMS Dragon paid a visit during Cork Volvo Week in July. 

Published in Belfast Lough

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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